


Harmony of the Fates

by eatyourlemons



Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars Sequel Trilogy
Genre: F/F, F/M, If JJ Can Play with Canon Willy-Nilly THEN BY GOD SO CAN I, M/M, Rey Palpatine who?, don't know her, spite is a powerful motivator
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-02-09
Updated: 2020-04-27
Packaged: 2021-02-28 06:00:25
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 8
Words: 31,707
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22639666
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/eatyourlemons/pseuds/eatyourlemons
Summary: It is a truth universally acknowledged that a movie in possession of a bad script, pacing, and editing must be in want of some major rewrites by fans who actually give a shit
Relationships: Poe Dameron/Finn, Rey & Ben Solo | Kylo Ren, Rey/Ben Solo | Kylo Ren
Comments: 4
Kudos: 22





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> This is not the first and certainly won't be the last complete overhaul of Episode IX thrown out into the Internet void. Hopefully mine isn't terrible :)
> 
> Special thanks to my roommate who so graciously helped beta the first chapter of this fic, even though she really doesn't care about Star Wars and has had to deal with me spiraling into Star Wars hell over the past month.

* * *

_A decimated RESISTANCE struggles to replenish their numbers after the devastating blow on the planet Crait. General Leia Organa orders a plan to infiltrate stormtrooper battalions, led by newly appointed Generals Finn and Poe Dameron._

_Meanwhile, Rey of Jakku continues her Jedi training with the help of ancient Jedi texts recovered from Ahch-to, in order to better understand her mysterious connection to the now Supreme Leader Kylo Ren._

_The FIRST ORDER continues its reign of terror across the galaxy, taking advantage of the destruction of Hosnian Prime. However, the rest of the galaxy is unaware of the discontent brewing in the ranks of its leadership…_

* * *

Rey gazed out at the trails of light flying past the viewport. Even though she’d experienced it many times by now, the feeling of being in hyperspace was still surreal sometimes. It could be a peaceful respite or, in this case, a possible calm before a storm. The thrum of the engine was a stark contrast to the _Millennium Falcon_ , which had...personality to say the least. The stolen First Order transport ship Poe was currently piloting hadn’t been easy to get a hold of, but General Organa - Leia - had deemed it a necessary risk. The Resistance’s new objective required more subtle tactics as opposed to outright warfare.

“Falling out of hyperspace in about ten minutes, guys,” Poe’s voice spoke over the intercom. Rey adjusted the high collar of her black jumpsuit before turning away from the viewport to face the rest of her companions.

Their appropriated ship was a standard stormtrooper transport shuttle, with only the bare essentials. A singular row of seats wrapped around the interior of the hull facing inward, and loops and straps hanging from the ceiling acted as hand grips for anyone standing while in flight.

Finn sat in one of the seats lining the wall, adjusting the strap on his blaster with a determined look on his face. It was also First Order, standard issue, and it, along with half a shipment of others of its kind, hadn’t been easy to acquire either. He also wore a similar jumpsuit to Rey’s. Rose was crouched by BB-8, who sported an impressive new paint job, much to Poe’s displeasure. The droid’s unique white and orange coloring had been replaced with the black, silver and grey of the First Order droids. There wasn’t anything they could do about the domed head, but at least the new color scheme helped him blend in more on these missions.

One of BB-8’s disks was open, exposing the tool compartment inside. Rose tossed her hair out of her eyes as she fiddled with the arc wielder that protruded outward.

“Just making sure it doesn’t come loose like last time,” she told the droid reassuringly. “Try to avoid taking anymore nasty falls.” She tightened the final screw with a smile. BB-8 let out a series of cheery beeps as he closed the disk.

“In BB-8’s defense, he didn’t know the vent he was in wasn’t strong enough to hold his weight,” Rey piped in, smiling. “Or that it was over a thirty-foot drop.”

The little droid chirped in a way that seemed to say _See? Not my fault!_ Rose laughed and patted BB-8 on the dome as she stood.

“Well, this base is on flat ground, so that shouldn’t be a problem.” They both looked over as Finn rose from his seat.

“Alright, let’s go over the plan one more time,” he said, gesturing for them to follow him towards the front of the ship, BB-8 trailing behind them.

Poe glanced over as they all entered the cockpit. BB-8 rolled over to the pilot, beeping happily as he extended the arc wielder and gave off a little spark.

“Hey buddy! You got it fixed!” Poe beamed at his droid. “Thanks, Rose. I owe you one.”

Rose waved her hand dismissively, going over and taking a seat in the co-pilot’s chair. “Don’t worry about it,” she said, punching a couple of buttons.

A hologram appeared in the air between the four of them, detailing the area within and surrounding the First Order base on Kriselist, located in the Mid Rim. The planetoid was suspended in an asteroid field and had large, coral-like structures dotting the landscape, which provided cover against prying eyes for anyone occupying it. But that also gave their little team an advantage when stealthily making their way to the surface.

The diagram showed a large, cleared area of the coral forest that covered the planetoid, with two large buildings at the center with a parade ground between them, then a series of smaller outlying buildings that could be either barracks or hangars for TIE fighters. Their recon intel hadn’t been specific.

“Okay, so,” Finn began. “One more time so we all got it in our heads. Poe sets us down here,” he pointed to one of the structures visible on their map, about a quarter mile from the eastern-most outbuilding. “Then you and Rose stay on the ship to provide backup and a quick getaway if we need it.” He looked over at Rey.

“You, me and BB-8 will make our way to the base, acquire a couple sets of armor,” she said, then she wriggled her fingers in the air. “I’ll use my Jedi mind trick thing in case anyone gets too suspicious.”

“I’ll be guiding you around the buildings over the comms once BB-8 patches in and gets a detailed map of the place,” Rose added.

“And I’ll do all the talking, since I know the lingo,” said Finn. Rey nodded.

“We make our way to the communications center,” she continued. “Where BB-8 leaves our little message-”

“Which you did great on, by the way,” Poe interrupted, putting a hand out toward Finn. “Very inspiring, it almost always moves me to tears.” Finn rubbed the back of his neck self-consciously.

“Thanks,” he said, clearing his throat before nodding over at Rey to continue.

“Then we simply sneak back out with hopefully no one the wiser,” she finished.

It was the standard formula they’d developed over the past few months. With their resources almost destroyed and support lacking, the Resistance had retreated underground to run stealth missions against the First Order. This wasn’t their first go-round doing this type of thing, and there was always the possibility that it could go horribly wrong. But any little thing they did to inconvenience the First Order, or any little scrap of intel they could get, was one step closer to ridding the galaxy of the second repressive regime it had seen in the last century.

“The sooner we get this mission done with the sooner I can get that paint off my droid,” said Poe as Rose shut off the hologram and they swiveled their chairs around so they were facing forward.

“I don’t know, I think he looks rather handsome,” Rey teased, smiling down at BB-8. He wiggled his round body on the spot, emitting a questioning trill. Poe groaned as Rey laughed.

“Yes, exactly like the spies in those holovids Poe likes to watch!” she replied, still chuckling. Finn let out a huff of laughter.

“Hey!” Poe protested. “I will not feel shame about what entertains me on my downtime.” Finn sidled up to Poe’s chair and placed his hands on the headrest.

“You know,” he said, “that’d be a pretty fun holodrama, wouldn’t it? A lone droid, using nothing but his wits and charm to take down corruption and evil? And he gets a new paint job every episode as part of his disguise?” Rey saw the aperture in BB-8’s photoreceptor widen as Finn spun his tale. Poe chuckled, patting Finn’s hand over his shoulder.

“Well, _General_ ,” he teased. “Seems like you’ve already got a career pegged for when the war is over.”

A light flashed on the dashboard next to Poe’s hand, then the trails of hyperspace light shrank back to regular stars. Outside the viewport, fragments of rock and asteroid floated gently past. Poe maneuvered the ship around a particularly large one, and Kriselist came into view. It was the largest body in the asteroid field by far, but not quite large enough to be considered anything other than a planetoid. Even from this distance they could see splotches of shadow and discoloration made by the coral-like structures on the surface.

“You three had better head to the back,” said Rose, flipping a couple of overhead switches and the ambient lighting in the cockpit dimmed. BB-8 led the way with Rey following close behind. She looked back to see Finn squeeze Poe’s shoulder briefly before he, too, followed her. Poe’s eyes followed Finn’s retreating back, admiring the way the jumpsuit fit so snugly. He saw Rose smirking out of the corner of his eye.

“What?” he asked, turning back to the controls.

“Nothing, General,” she said innocently.

Rey, Finn and BB-8 gathered at the rear of the ship. Other than their comms and their blasters, they carried nothing else to make movement easier.

Rey pulled the loose half of her hair back into a low bun and smoothed the braids on the sides of her head. Finn set his blaster to stun and she followed suit, remembering to turn off the safety. The low hum of the engine slowly rose in pitch as they felt the ship enter the planetoid’s thin atmosphere.

“Get ready for landing,” Poe’s voice came over the intercom once again. Rey and Finn reached up to grasp one of the hand loops and bent their knees to brace themselves, with BB-8 at their feet rocking back and forth to keep himself balanced. The ship gave a slight jolt before becoming still again, and the ramp opened slowly before them.

“Good luck out there, guys. And may the Force be with you.”

Rey and Finn made their way down the ramp, BB-8 rolling along behind, and saw the dim landscape laid out before them. What little starlight hit Kriselist was mostly blocked by the towering shapes that dotted the surface. A long-dead forest of coral with its twisting, branching columns in shades of pale blue, purple and gray. Rey looked up and saw the hole in the canopy Poe had guided the ship through, which was just barely big enough. The pilot-turned-General continued to impress her.

BB-8 activated a small light on his head which lit up the area to about five feet in front of him. With a gesture for Rey to follow, Finn headed off in the direction of the base, sweeping his eyes over their surroundings. Rey slowed her breathing and reached out with her senses, feeling the Force flowing through and around her. If there had ever been any native life to Kriselist, there certainly wasn’t now. The looming corals were the only skeletal remains of a long-dead ocean, and all around them was a vacant silence.

After about ten minutes of walking Rey sensed movement and life ahead of them, off to the right. She stuck out a hand and Finn halted in his tracks. Rey silently indicated in the direction of the movement and he nodded, then he leaned down and tapped BB-8’s flashlight and put a finger to his lips. The droid turned off the light, plunging them back into deep twilight.

They crept toward one of the corals directly in their path with BB-8 trying to roll as quietly as possible behind them. Crouching at the base of the trunk, they readied their blasters. Rey peered out from their hiding spot and saw light in the distance, shining between the trunks of other corals. The soft whine of approaching speeders made her duck her head. She reached out again with her senses in the direction of the speeders, where she could feel two life forms.

_How convenient_ , she thought wryly, holding up two fingers to Finn, who nodded to show he understood. She moved out of the way to let Finn peer around the trunk, then he propped up the nozzle of his blaster. BB-8 gave a little wiggle of anticipation, but Rey held a finger to her lips and he stopped himself.

The whine of the speeders gradually grew louder until they emerged from between two of the corals, a pair of stormtroopers astride them. Rey felt Finn take a deep breath, then he fired two stunning blasts in quick succession, each hitting their intended target directly on the chest plate. The stormtroopers immediately went limp and crashed to the ground. Rey jumped up and stuck out her hands towards the speeders, willing them to slow down and stop before crashing into any of the corals.

Finn rushed over to the closest trooper started stripping them of their armor as he put it on himself. Rey went over to the second trooper and did the same while BB-8 stood as lookout.

She’d come to hate wearing stormtrooper armor, since it never quite fit right and the rigid plastoid gave her a weird claustrophobic feeling. Out of the corner of her eye she saw Finn methodically putting on the armor, the training that had been ingrained in him for most of his life coming to the surface at moments like these. He adjusted his wrist comm under the gauntlet before speaking into it.

“Alright Fathier One, step one is a go,” he said. Rey slipped on the bucket helmet and secured her blaster at her hip. Grabbing the legs of her trooper, she began to drag them back towards their hiding spot.

“ _Good job, Fathier Two_ ,” Rose’s voice came over the comms in their ears. “ _Try to keep us updated if you can_.”

“Will do.” Finn bent down and grabbed the legs of his trooper and dragged them over to the base of the coral, grunting with the effort. With a heave, they propped the troopers up against the trunk.

“Do your thing, Fathier Four,” Finn panted before standing and making his way towards one of the speeders. Rey knelt in front of the troopers and gently slapped their cheeks. The first trooper groaned, bringing a hand up to their head, while the other trooper grimaced as their eyes fluttered open.

“Wha-?”

“ _You haven’t seen anything out of the ordinary_ ,” said Rey, gently waving a hand in front of their faces. Their eyes glazed over and their faces went slack as she infused her voice with her intent.

“We haven’t seen anything out of the ordinary,” they repeated.

“ _Your speeders malfunctioned and your comms went down. That’s why you’re late getting back to the base_.”

“Our speeders malfunctioned and our comms went down. That’s why we’re late.”

“Good,” said Rey, satisfied. “Now _sleep_.” She reached over and touched their foreheads, and their eyes rolled back before they went limp once again. One of them started snoring softly and Rey smirked under the helmet. Readjusting her shoulder piece, she stood and made her way over to Finn.

“You ready to go?” she asked.

“One second…” He reached under the seat of the speeder and fiddled with something, then jerked his arm back quickly, pulling free what looked like a small connective device. The speeder thumped to the ground, no longer able to hover. Finn tossed it off to the side. The other speeder lay forlornly on the ground as well.

“Now I’m ready,” Finn said, sliding the helmet over his head and squaring his shoulders. Rey looked over at BB-8, who extended his lighter and gave her a thumbs up. She grinned and returned the gesture. They turned and made their way towards the lights of the base in the distance.

As they trudged along side by side, Rey couldn’t help but admire the way Finn carried himself. Even though they’d told her all that had happened while she’d been on Ahch-to, she was still amazed at the change that had come over her first true friend in just the span of a few days. And that confidence, in himself and his friends, had only gotten bolder since they’d reunited on Crait.

For her part, she’d been more than happy to help when Finn and Poe had proposed a long-term plan to incite a rebellion within the stormtrooper ranks of the First Order. They would have smaller, guerilla-style teams working to dismantle it from the bottom up while the rest of the Resistance worked to build support in secret. After running these sporadic test missions to assess the First Order’s alertness to infiltration, Rey knew Poe was getting antsy to start training other groups as well.

They could only hope that, if they stayed under the radar, the First Order would underestimate their chances of succeeding.

The lights grew brighter as they began to see the outlying buildings appearing. Rey squared her shoulders in imitation of Finn, trying to project an air of belonging and authority. In truth, she was starting to sweat and the sound of her own breathing in the helmet wasn’t helping. She breathed deeply through her nose and out her mouth to center herself.

Finn held his wrist comm up to his face. “Fathier One, we’re approaching the first set of buildings.”

“ _Copy that_.”

Coming around the last trunk of coral, they could see a wide walkway lit by light posts interspersed down the length of it. The buildings off to the left were a row single-story barracks, and to the right was a cluster of what looked like storage sheds. Each had its own keypad and dataport next to the doorway.

Finn nudged Rey with his elbow and pointed towards the closest shed, then waved BB-8 ahead of him. They made their way quickly over to it, Rey glancing around to make sure they weren’t being noticed. There was movement in the window of the barracks across the way, but no troopers were out nearby that she could see or sense.

BB-8 rolled up to the doorway, extending his data probe and connecting with the port. The interlocking machinery whirred and rotated as BB-8 searched for what they needed. After a moment, he looked up at Finn and let out an affirmative beep.

“Good job, buddy,” he said, then spoke into his wrist comm. “Fathier One, map coming your way.” BB-8 retracted his probe and stood still as he transmitted the intel back to the ship.

“ _Copy that. Receiving transmission now_.”

“We’re between a row of barracks and some storage sheds, on the eastern-most edge,” said Finn.

“ _Gotcha. Give me a sec_.”

A tense moment followed as they waited for Rose to examine the map of the base and plot out their path. Rey gripped her blaster tighter, wishing, not for the first time, for the familiar weight of her staff or a lightsaber in her hand instead.

Rose’s voice piped up over the comms. “ _Okay, I’m pretty sure I know where you guys are. Head west until you see the intersection of officers’ quarters on the left across from a commissary on the right_.”

“Copy. Heading that way.” Finn gave Rey a two-finger salute, and she returned the gesture before they moved west along the walkway, all the while keeping their eyes peeled. The overhead lights were harsh after the darkness of the coral forest, and they glinted off the silver detailing on BB-8’s body as he rolled along beside them.

“So far, so good,” Rey heard Finn mutter under his breath to himself. Her head jerked up when, ahead of them, a small contingent of troopers rounded the corner and headed towards them. They walked two-by-two, led by a trooper with an orange shoulder pauldron, obviously their captain. Rey kept her breathing steady as they got closer, and she saw Finn straighten his back ever so slightly beside her. She remembered his advice to her before every mission: _Confidence is key. Act like you belong and no one will question you_.

The group carried on right past them without a glance, heading towards the barracks behind them. Rey, Finn and BB-8 continued on, passing one intersection, then another, the buildings on either side morphing from barracks and storage sheds to single-occupant quarters and speeder storage bays. They passed by troopers walking in groups of two or three, but none of them paid them any mind either.

Finally, just ahead of them on the right they could see a larger building with long, low windows across from a cluster of the smaller buildings that had to be officers’ quarters. They could see small groups of black-clad officers mingling and conversing through the windows. The doors on two of the buildings across the way slid back and they watched as two officers greeted each other and headed towards the commissary. Finn put out a hand and Rey and BB-8 stumbled to a halt.

“ _Salute_ ,” he quietly hissed, before doing so himself. Rey stood to attention and saluted, watching as the officers glanced in their direction briefly, nodded, then looked away as they continued onward. Finn and Rey held their salutes until they passed by completely before relaxing. Moving forward, Finn spoke into his comm.

“Fathier One, we’re at the intersection.”

“ _Take a right and then an immediate left. You should see a large hangar and a big open space at the end. The central computer bank for their communications is in the building attached to it_.”

“Copy.”

Following Rose’s directions, they turned onto another, narrower walkway. Just as Rose said, in the distance they saw the walkway ended in a large, open parade ground. A hangar bay, its doors wide open, stood off to the side. As they made their way towards the parade ground Rey’s skin began to crawl with the feeling of the plastoid armor moving over it, even with the extra layer of her jumpsuit in between. She couldn’t fathom how Finn had worn armor like this almost every day of his life before he’d met her.

BB-8 looked up at her and tilted his domed head to the side. Rey waved her hand dismissively.

“I’m fine,” she said softly, not wanting to draw Finn’s attention. BB-8 seemed to give her a skeptical look before he looked away.

Luckily, they didn’t encounter any other troopers as they emerged onto the parade ground. Belatedly, Rey realized it must be late in the day on the base, with most troopers done with training exercises for the day. They skirted the edge of the open area, still on high alert.

The sharp smell of hyperspace fuel and cold metal permeated the hangar as they entered it, but even with the chill Rey could feel sweat begin to drip down her neck underneath her armor. About a dozen TIE fighters sat in a neat row, the cables and tubes attached to them snaking across the floor. The only movement in the hangar was that of a couple of astromech droids repairing the shielding on one of the fighters at the far end. They made their way towards the open doorway at the back of the hangar that would take them further into the building.

A middle-aged man with dark hair, who appeared to be an officer given his crisp, black uniform, materialized in the doorway in front of them. Rey, Finn and BB-8 stopped dead in their tracks.

“What are you doing out past curfew?” the man snapped. “Are you authorized to be here?”

Finn stood to attention. “Yes, sir. Code 734, sir. Speeder malfunction while on patrol.”

The officer narrowed his eyes at Finn. “And you didn’t use your comms to call for backup or support?”

“Code 429, sir. Our comms went down as well, so we had to walk all the way back to report in.”

The officer crossed his arms, inspecting Finn up and down. He quickly glanced over at Rey before turning his attention back to Finn.

“This is most irregular,” he said, then pointed down to BB-8. “And why do you have an astromech with you? This isn’t part of standard patrol procedure.” His lip curled up in a look of distaste. “Especially one as outdated as this.”

BB-8 rolled back slightly and let out an indignant trill. Rey saw Finn stiffen and could sense his tension as the officer continued his line of questioning. She took a step forward and waved her hand in front of the officer’s face.

“ _It’s alright that we’re here_ ,” she said, keeping her voice even as she willed him to believe her. The officer’s brow furrowed in confusion, and she was surprised to find some resistance.

“ _It’s alright that we’re here_ ,” she repeated, pushing a bit harder. She saw his throat bob up and down as he swallowed hard.

“It’s…alright that you’re here?” he asked. Rey nodded, waving her hand in front of his face again, seeing sweat beginning to gather on his upper lip. He was a stubborn one, so she moved closer until she was right in his face.

“ _You will take us to the central computer bank_.”

“I will take you to-”

Rose’s voice unexpectedly came over the comms. “ _Fathiers One and Two, any progress updates?_ ” The officer’s eyes instantly refocused from their glassy stare. He’d heard Rose’s voice and Rey froze as her control over him snapped. His expression hardened and he reached for his own comm device. Rey wheeled around to Finn, who sprung into action.

“All systems-” was all the officer got out before Finn’s stunning blast hit him in the chest and he dropped to the ground unconscious.

“ _Guys? You there?_ ” Rose’s concerned voice said in their ears. BB-8 let out a series of nervous beeps, looking back and forth between the two of them. Rey grunted in frustration, searching around for a place to hide the man.

“Slight detour but we’re almost there!” Finn’s voice was breathy as he replied. He went over and crouched next to the officer, patting him down until he had found his comm and what looked like an access key card which he attached to his own belt. Rey spotted a tool storage locker that looked big enough to hold the man’s body.

“Over there,” she said to Finn, pointing. “Let’s lock him in there, quickly.” Finn grabbed the man’s legs and Rey lifted his upper body and began dragging him over.

“Did your Jedi mind trick just fail you?” Finn panted as they heaved the officer upright into the locker. Rey’s glare was ineffective under her helmet.

“Some people are more stubborn than others,” she replied tersely. “It doesn’t work _all_ the time.” She shoved the man back as he began to tip forward and shut the door of the locker. “Let’s get going before someone realizes he’s gone.”

“Right,” he said, then spoke into his comm as they headed for the doorway once again, BB-8 trailing behind them. “Slight change of plan, Fathier One. Fathier Four had some trouble with an officer, so we’re gonna speed up the mission a bit.”

They heard Rose sigh. “ _Just stay safe, guys_.”

“When do we ever not?” Finn teased, and Rey could hear the smirk in his voice.

They passed through the doorway and entered a long hall that extended for about eighty feet in front of them before ending at a large, sealed door at the other end, with two more sets of hallways branching off in between. The air was warmer in here than in the hangar, but the overhead lighting was just as harsh as the rest of the base.

They cautiously but quickly made their way down the hallway, BB-8 swiveling his domed head around anxiously. Rey sensed the presence of other living beings in the building in rooms further away, but none that seemed to be moving in their direction. Finn reached the sealed door first and examined it quickly before pulling the officer’s key card from his belt.

“Let’s hope this works,” he said under his breath before inserting it into the slot to the left of the door. The light above it flashed red three times before changing to green with a prolonged beep. The door split down the middle and slowly began opening.

Rey felt the air around her seem to crystallize, her stomach dropping as she realized what was happening. All sounds, the ambient hum of the building, the whirring of the door’s machinery, faded away as if she was in a vacuum.

_No!_ she thought frantically. _Not_ here! _Not_ NOW.

Her breath hitched, feeling his presence materialize in their bond. She slowly, deliberately, turned her head to look down the hallway to her right, her heart hammering in her chest.

Kylo Ren stood in the middle of the hallway, as if he was solid flesh and blood right in front of her. He wasn’t looking at her, instead looking at something on the datapad he held. His dark hair was swept away from his face, the angry scar she’d given him standing out on his pale skin.

Rey felt her anxiety skyrocket the instant she saw him, and he must have sensed it along the bond, his head snapping in her direction and his eyes locking on her face. Rey stiffened, realizing he was seeing her in a _stormtrooper uniform_ , of all things. His brow furrowed and she felt his confusion trickle down the bond.

Rey quickly ran through all the possible reactions he could have in her mind, the consequences of which would almost certainly mean capture for herself and her friends once he figured out what she was doing. He would sound the alarm, and she, Finn and BB-8 would be taken away and possibly tortured for information. The Resistance would lose a valuable leader, their only Jedi, Poe would lose his beloved droid, and it would be _all her fault_.

Kylo continued to stare at her as she felt herself begin to succumb to her panic. His eyes slowly raked over her, and she felt his confusion fade. Vaguely, as if from outside a thick bubble, she could hear Finn saying her name. Kylo blinked, his expression oddly vacant.

“I prefer the wrap.”

And then he was gone.


	2. Chapter 2

Rey blinked rapidly under the helmet, confusion abruptly replacing her panic.

Had he just…made a _joke?_ She continued to stare at the spot where he’d been, her mind reeling from his casual comment, then felt a hand on her shoulder. Gasping, she whirled around to face Finn, who backed away with his hands up.

“Hey, it’s just me!” Finn’s concern was evident in his voice. “Are you okay? I was saying your name but it was like you couldn’t hear me.”

Rey felt a hysterical laugh bubbling up her throat but managed to stop herself from releasing it. She swallowed hard, glad that the helmet concealed her face.

“Yeah, I’m fine,” she said, her voice sounding a bit strangled. She cleared her throat. “It’s just the um…the armor.” She gestured down her body with the hand not holding the blaster. “You know how wearing this kind of armor makes me a bit…edgy.” She winced at the lameness of her excuse, hoping he’d believe her. Rey could feel him scrutinizing her through the mask.

“Okay,” he finally said, still sounding skeptical. BB-8 rolled up behind him and beeped anxiously, gesturing with his head back towards the open doorway. Rey let out a breath she hadn’t realized she was holding and moved past Finn.

“We’re wasting time. Let’s just finish the mission,” she said stiffly, following BB-8 into the room beyond. Finn followed silently, but Rey could sense the concern radiating off of him.

The room they entered was large but packed with computer data banks the whole length of the floor, with only narrow aisles between them. The ceiling was high, and in the center of the room stood a large column from which suspended metal walkways fanned outward toward the edge of the room. The lights on the banks twinkled as they passed them, rapidly weaving through the aisles as they moved inward.

From behind her, Rey heard Finn speak into his comm. “Fathier One, we’ve made it to the central computer bank. Looking for main dataport. Standby for transmission.”

“ _Copy that_.”

They emerged into an open area in the center of the room, where they could see a control panel encircling the base of the column, a complex array of buttons and switches patterned across it. Rey’s innate scavenger senses couldn’t help but admire the intricacy of the First Order tech, mentally running the numbers for just how many portions that would’ve bought her from Unkar Plutt. She pushed the thought away to focus on the task at hand.

BB-8 spotted the dataport before either her or Finn and quickly rolled over to it, already extending his probe.

“Fathier One, we’re leaving our message now,” Finn spoke into his comm as BB-8 connected with the control panel.

“ _Great job, guys! No pressure but let’s move this along, yeah?_ ”

BB-8 rotated the probe this way and that, the machinery whirring as he interfaced with the base’s central computer. After a moment he turned to Finn and trilled out a confirmation that their “message” had been left, then turned back to the console.

“Copying and transmitting communiques now,” Finn said into his comm, giving BB-8 a thumbs up.

“ _Receiving_.”

Rey began to tap her foot nervously, glancing between the aisles of the computer banks and fully expecting an entire battalion of stormtroopers to come rushing in to apprehend them at any moment. Either Kylo Ren would alert the base to their presence, or the officer they’d stuffed into a locker would wake up and sound the alarm, and they needed to get out of there as soon as possible.

“Any chance we could speed things up a bit, BB-8?” she said testily. The droid looked over at her and beeped matter-of-factly, if a bit annoyed. _I’m almost done!_ Finn’s helmeted head also turned toward her, but he said nothing.

“ _And…done! Excellent job, guys. Now get out of there so we can get off this depressing rock_.”

Rey was already moving as Rose was speaking, making her way back the way they’d come. BB-8 quickly detached himself from the dataport and rushed after her along with Finn. Rey reached the doorway first, sensing that the other life forms in the building hadn’t moved any closer. Finn caught up to her and put a hand on her shoulder.

“Can you please tell me what’s going on with you?” he demanded, but keeping his voice low. Rey let out a frustrated breath.

“Look,” she said, softening her voice and shrugging out from under his hand. “Someone else almost certainly knows we’re here, so we need to leave _now_.” She turned and began to walk quickly down the hallway, Finn sticking close to her side.

“Who else knows we’re here?”

“I don’t know,” she lied, her stomach twisting unpleasantly. “But we are in serious danger of getting caught, so the faster we move the better.”

They passed through the doorway into the hangar, which looked the same as they had left it. Both Rey and Finn glanced over to the storage locker to make sure it was still secure and shut before they calmly but swiftly exited the hangar, BB-8 hurriedly rolling along behind them.

“Is this another Jedi thing? Did you sense something in the Force?”

“Something like that,” she admitted as they passed out of the hangar and onto the parade ground. They quickly skirted the open area and followed the path Rose had given them earlier, turning the corner and seeing the commissary still lit up but mostly empty. The rest of the buildings around them were dark and silent. The long walkway ahead of them was empty, but they kept to the edge as they made their way down it in case they needed to duck and hide. Rey’s harsh breathing from their fast pace was amplified inside her helmet, and she couldn’t wait to rip the damn thing off.

Their progress down the walkway was uneventful and they soon came to the edge of the compound where they’d entered. Once they were under the cover of the forest they hightailed in the direction of where they’d left the speeders and the troopers. They soon came upon the area, and Rey immediately ripped off the bucket helmet with a gasp of air, her hair sweaty and plastered to her forehead. She began stripping herself of the armor and dumping it in front of the passed out troopers, one of whom was drooling.

“Fathier One, have the shuttle prepped and ready to go. We’re on our way back,” Finn said into his comm, bits of trooper armor thunking to the ground at his feet as he stripped, too.

“ _Are you guys okay? You sound winded_.”

“Yeah, yeah, yeah, we’re good!” Finn tried to sound reassuring, but it came across as a bit manic. “We just might need to make a quicker exit than we were planning.” Rey strapped her blaster to her hip and waited for Finn to do the same before turning and heading deeper into the forest.

“ _We’ll be ready_.”

BB-8 turned on his flashlight to light their way again as they wove between the trunks of the enormous corals. They were more than halfway back by Rey’s estimate when a distant sound made all three of them stop and listen. A siren penetrated the still air around them, very obviously coming from the base. Finn and Rey looked at each other wide-eyed before simultaneously bolting in the direction of the ship.

They burst into the small clearing, the ramp on the shuttle open and the engines warmed up and running. Rose stood waiting at the bottom of the ramp but perked up as soon as she saw them.

“Go, go, go, _go!_ ” Rey bellowed, waving her arms wildly.

Rose backed up the ramp quickly and yelled behind her. “Poe! Get ready to punch it!”

Rey, Finn and BB-8 thundered up the ramp, Rose waving them on before hitting the button to raise the ramp.

“They’re on! _Go!_ ” Rose yelled toward the cockpit. The shuttle lurched and they grabbed the hand straps to prevent themselves toppling over. Using the straps, they moved to the front of the ship and into the cockpit just in time to see the ship burst through the branches of coral less gracefully than when they’d landed. Poe glanced over at them quickly before facing forward again. Rey took up her usual spot in the co-pilot’s chair.

“BB-8, set the coordinates in the navi-computer!” Poe ordered, tilting the controls back and pushing the ship into a steep incline. BB-8 rolled over to the console and plugged in with a worried trill. The ship’s comm system crackled to life, and a harsh voice came through.

“ _Unidentified trooper transport shuttle, you are not authorized to be here. Land immediately or you will be destroyed._ ”

Poe muted the comm system with a deft flick of a switch. “Yeah, no, we’re not doing that. Strap yourselves in or hang on tight, guys!” Finn and Rose turned to leave the cockpit.

The tell-tale whine of TIE fighter engines outside resonated through the metal walls of the ship. Finn swore under his breath. A series of warning blasts blew past the ship from behind, Poe swerving to avoid them. Rose lost her grip on the hand strap and fell to the ground, bracing herself with her hands but letting out a sharp cry.

“Rose!” Rey and Finn exclaimed at the same time. Rey jumped out of her chair and they both knelt down by their friend. Rose cradled her left wrist close to her chest.

“ _Kriff_ ,” she gasped out. Rey saw tears gathering in Rose’s eyes, but she gritted her teeth and shook her head. “I’m fine. Just help Poe get us out of here and worry about me later.”

Rey exchanged a concerned look with Finn but said nothing, instead quickly helping Rose back to her feet. Finn put an arm around Rose’s shoulders and guided her to the back of the ship. Rey jumped back into the co-pilot’s seat.

The barrage of blasts from the TIE fighters pursuing them kept coming, Poe expertly maneuvering the ship around them as they left the thin atmosphere of Kriselist.

“I’m really regretting saying no to Chewie’s offer to install gunners in this thing!” One of the TIE blasts hit a chunk of rock near them and Poe wheeled the ship away from the debris just in time.

“Well, now we know for next time!” Rey retorted, rapidly pressing buttons on the console to help BB-8 input their destination. “We’re clear! Punch it!”

Poe pulled back the lever in the center of the console, and the stars stretched out before them as they entered hyperspace.

Rey relaxed back into the co-pilot’s chair and let out a long breath. Poe ran a hand through his dark hair as BB-8 let out a series of relieved beeps. Poe chuckled.

“I think that was our closest call yet, buddy,” he replied, standing up. Rey stood as well, and she, Poe and BB-8 made their way to the seating area of the ship.

Rose and Finn were close to the front, each beginning to undo their harnesses. Rose’s face had an ashy tinge to it, and her mouth was in a hard line as she struggled to unstrap herself with only one hand. Finn reached over to help her and she breathed out harshly through her nose, then hissed as a buckle jostled her hand.

“Sorry!” Finn winced in sympathy, fully extricating Rose and himself and standing up. Poe moved over to his side as Rey sat down next to Rose.

“Let me see it,” she said, reaching for Rose’s wrist, but she shrank away from her.

“I’m _fine_ , Rey. The med droids at the base can take care of it.”

Rey frowned. “You’re obviously in pain, Rose. Just let me look at it, there’s something I want to try.” Rose gave her a skeptical look, then relented, letting Rey take her wrist in her hands.

Rey delicately cradled it, examining it closely. Rose’s hand was bent at an unnatural angle from her forearm, and a large bruise was already forming. Rey gently set it down in her lap, placing her hands on Rose’s and closing her eyes. Taking a deep breath, she opened herself to their surroundings, feeling the movement of the ship through hyperspace, the life energy of her companions close by as well as her own. She reached out with her mind, drawing on the living Force and channeling it into Rose’s broken wrist. Warmth suffused her hands as she felt the bones realign and fuse back together. She heard Rose gasp and Poe let out a soft “Whoa!” BB-8 gave an impressed whistle.

Rey opened her eyes, smiling triumphantly. Rose held her wrist up to her face and flexed her fingers, then gave Rey an awed look. Finn and Poe wore similar expressions.

“Since when can you do that?” Finn demanded.

“Not very long,” she admitted. “I’ve tried it before on myself, but only on small bruises or cuts.” Her grin widened, her excitement infectious. “I’ve never healed a broken bone before!”

“Let me guess, more Jedi stuff?” Poe interjected.

Rey nodded, rolling her eyes. “Yes, Poe. More _Jedi stuff_.”

Rose reached over and gripped her forearm, her eyes wide. “That was the most incredible thing I’ve ever seen!” she said. “Thank you, Rey.”

Rey’s face softened. “Any time,” she said, patting Rose’s newly-healed hand. “This was the only practical thing the Jedi texts talked about, so I’m glad I figured out how to do it.”

Finn placed a hand on Rose’s shoulder and squeezed it. “We’re lucky it wasn’t worse, and that we got away mostly unscathed.”

Poe crossed his arms and rubbed his chin with one hand. “That was a little too close for comfort. What happened exactly?” BB-8 emitted a series of informative beeps and whistles.

“You stuffed an officer in a _what?_ ” Poe exclaimed, smiling incredulously. Rey and Finn exchanged a slightly embarrassed look. Rose burst out laughing.

“We had to improvise!” said Rey. “He was being very stubborn and wouldn’t cooperate.”

“It could’ve been worse,” Finn added, holding up a finger. “We could’ve just killed him, but we didn’t.”

Rose wiped her eyes, still giggling. “Well, I’m sure General Organa at least will get a real kick out of that.” She stood and moved past Finn and Poe towards the cockpit. “I’m gonna start going over the intel we got.”

Poe turned to head back to the front of the ship, smiling to himself with BB-8 trailing behind him. Rey made to follow but Finn held her back.

“Hey,” he said, soft enough that their friends wouldn’t hear. “Are you okay? You were really worrying me back there.” The sincerity in his voice and the concern in his eyes made Rey’s chest tighten.

“Yes, I’m fine now,” she said. “Some things were making me a bit…on edge. It’s hard to explain why, but when I figure out how to I promise I’ll tell you.” Finn simply looked at her before nodding. He turned and entered the cockpit, leaving Rey alone.

She stood there for a long moment, turning her brief encounter with Kylo Ren through the Force over and over in her mind, but was left still feeling puzzled by his reaction to her, and her own panicked response.

She forcefully pushed the thought of him away and headed towards the cockpit.


	3. Chapter 3

The shuttle exited hyperspace above a world of swirling clouds and rocky continents.

Iskalon. Their home since D’Qar had been destroyed and Crait was no longer an option. Moving inward to the Mid Rim from other, more remote alternatives in the Outer Rim had been a risky step. But Iskalon was isolated enough and small enough for their needs, and made travel to and from their missions slightly easier.

The rest of the trip had been spent in companionable silence, each preoccupied with their own thoughts. Rose sat at the console behind Rey, going through the intel they’d just gotten with her chin in her hand, then copying it to a data stick which she stuck in her pocket. Poe angled the ship downward to begin their descent as BB-8 rolled into the cockpit trilling grumpily, Finn entering behind him.

“Don’t worry, buddy. We’ll get you out of that awful paint as soon as we get home,” Poe said, reaching over and running his hand over the little droid’s domed head affectionately.

Rey flipped a switch and unmuted their comms. “Fathier Squad to Iskalon, coming in for landing. Requesting clearance.”

“ _You’re cleared for landing. Welcome home, guys._ ”

Poe guided the ship down through the atmosphere, heading for one of the many mountain peaks that covered the planet. Iskalon had been home to an extensive mining operation in the days of the Old Republic, but was abandoned once the Empire took over, only occasionally used by pirates and smugglers who knew of its existence.

Their base was situated in one of these abandoned mines near the top of one of these mountains. The many twists and turns of the mine’s tunnels proved extremely useful for their reduced numbers.

The clouds swirled and parted as the peak came into view, the air clearing and the lone sun shining brightly in the sky. Poe aimed the ship at an opening in the side of the mountain, hidden between two cliff faces that jutted outward at sharp angles.

Maneuvering down a slight tunnel, they entered a large cavern that acted as a hangar. Several other ships and a handful of X-wings were parked here as well, either being repaired or prepped by various Resistance members.

Poe set the shuttle down in its usual spot. Through the viewport they could see Threepio and Artoo waiting.

Poe rolled his eyes. “Great. The golden fussbot is here to welcome us.”

Rose swatted his shoulder. “Be nice. He’s a war hero who deserves respect.”

Poe completed the final checks before powering down the shuttle and standing. “Doesn’t make him any less annoying,” he said, following the rest of them to the back.

The ramp opened with a hiss and they strolled out of the ship. Rey’s ears popped slightly with the pressure and altitude change. They moved around the ship and towards the hangar entrance, Threepio and Artoo intercepting them. BB-8 rolled over to Artoo, exchanging a series of beeps and whistles with the older droid.

“Welcome back, Fathier Squad,” Threepio greeted. “I trust your mission was successful?”

Rose smiled at the droid. “Mostly. We ran into some trouble,” she sent a pointed look in Finn and Rey’s direction, “but we made it out okay.”

“Good heavens! Well, we’re glad you made it back safely, aren’t we Artoo?” He looked down at his companion, who whistled in agreement.

“Where is Leia, Threepio?” Rey asked. “I’d like to talk to her before the debriefing.” She saw Finn look over her out of the corner of her eye as they entered the tunnel that would take them further into the mountain.

“I believe she is in her quarters, Miss Rey,” he replied. “She asked me to let you all know that the debriefing will take place once Senator Casterfo arrives.”

“It’s just Rey, Threepio,” she said, smiling. “And thanks.” She turned to the rest of her friends. “I’m gonna go find Leia. I’ll see you all at the debriefing.” She headed off down the tunnel without waiting for a reply. Finn watched her go, his mouth a thin line, before Poe patted his shoulder and pulled his attention back.

“We’ll be in our rooms,” he informed Threepio, guiding Finn down a side tunnel that led to the officers’ quarters. “Let us know when the Senator arrives,” he threw back over his shoulder.

“Yes, General Dameron.”

“Come on, BB-8, let’s get that stupid paint off of you.” BB-8 followed the two men with a cheery trill.

Rose turned to the golden droid, pulling the data stick from her pocket. “Threepio, will you help me go over the intel we got from Kriselist? There’s some things I’m not sure about.”

“Why certainly, Commander Tico!” he exclaimed, leading her toward the command center, rattling on about logistical reports as Rose followed with a smile.

***

Rey stopped by her room to change out of her jumpsuit and into her regular clothes. The room was sparse, containing only a cot, a storage trunk, a small desk and a chair. Rey was allowed the comfort of her own private room, and for that she was grateful. She still felt uneasy about sleeping on the _Falcon_ with Chewie also on board, and after a few restless nights in the communal barracks Leia had offered her a separate room. 

She had done her best to personalize it with small trinkets, like the small porg nest she’d found on the _Falcon_ still containing broken egg shells, or interesting looking rocks she’d picked up around the mountain base. Her eyes drifted over the desk as she slipped on her dark grey tunic, the broken and disjointed pieces of Luke’s lightsaber spread across it. The Jedi texts were locked away in a secure compartment on the _Falcon_ in case they needed to evacuate the base quickly.

As she was draping her wrap over her shoulder she paused, looking down at the fabric in her hands. Shaking her head, she draped the fabric over her other shoulder and cinched her belt, making sure her blaster was secure on her hip. Smoothing her braids, she left her room and made for Leia’s quarters.

Rey traversed the familiar path, passing by the command center where she glanced in to see Rose deep in conversation with C-3PO. She passed by the entrance to their small commissary and saw Snap and Jessika at a table, chatting as they ate. Rey moved on, not stopping to say hello.

As the functional head of the Resistance, Leia had what she jokingly referred to as her “suite,” but was really a small living area with an even smaller bedroom and fresher attached. She was, however, the only person on the base to have an actual window to the outside world in her room. Rey often caught her staring out at the mountains surrounding them, an unreadable expression on the older woman’s face.

She turned the corner into the tunnel that led to Leia’s room. As she approached the door, the sound of laughter met her ears. It was a deep, full laugh, and Rey couldn’t help but smile at the sound. She paused just in front of the door, listening to the laugh trail off. She raised her hand and rapped three sharp knocks on the door. After a moment she heard the sound of a throat clearing, and then a soft “Come in.”

The door slid open and Rey entered, seeing Leia sat at her small table with Chewie across from her, both of them cradling a cup of caf. Leia’s eyes brightened at the sight of Rey.

“You’re back earlier than expected,” she said cheerfully. Chewie let out a roar of agreement.

Rey shrugged. “We had to rush a bit, but it was fine in the end.”

Leia nodded. “I’m sure we’ll hear all about it once Ransolm arrives.” She drained her cup, then stood from the table. “Another one, Chewie?” she asked, gesturing to the caf machine by the window.

Chewbacca shook his head and stood up as well, having to crouch because of the low ceiling and growling softly to indicate he had to get going. He lumbered past Rey, patting her shoulder briefly as he did so.

“I’ll come help you on the _Falcon_ later,” she said. Chewie nodded, then he was ducking out the door. Rey watched as Leia refilled her cup.

“Would you like some, Rey?” she asked. “One of the perks of being the head honcho is all the caf you could ever want.”

Rey huffed out a laugh. “No, I’m fine.”

Leia shrugged, sitting down at the table. “More for me, then.” She took a long sip as Rey took a seat across from her.

“Was that you laughing before?” Rey asked. Leia chuckled, nodding.

“Chewie was telling me about another one of his and Han’s exploits.” The older woman grinned. “It’s one I’ve heard a thousand times before, but the way he tells it is what makes it so hilarious.”

Rey returned the grin. “I’ve never heard you laugh like that before. It’s nice to hear.”

Leia’s eyes softened. “Not much else to laugh about these days, I’m afraid.”

The smile slowly fell from Rey’s face. “No, there isn’t, is there?” she said quietly, turning her gaze to the window. It wasn’t a very tall window, but it was wide and protected by an overhang that protruded from the mountainside. Outside, the sun had begun its descent, casting an almost golden light on the many crags and cliffs of their neighbors. Thick clouds were beginning to gather at their peaks.

Leia knew, of course. The night after Crait, as the rest of the Resistance fell into an exhausted sleep on the Falcon, Rey felt that if anyone had a right to know the nature of her relationship with Kylo – she couldn’t bring herself to call him Ben again, not yet – and what had happened on the _Supremacy_ , it was Leia. She’d cradled the sundered lightsaber in her hands as she’d confessed their strange connection through the Force, her hope of Ben Solo’s return, Snoke’s death and their victory over his Praetorian guards, her sorrow and disappointment of the aftermath. Rey didn’t dare tell her what really happened that fateful night at Luke’s temple, not when Leia had just lost her brother and her son all over again.

Leia had simply listened, but Rey had seen how her hand had gripped her cane tightly. When she had gone quiet, Leia had made her promise to tell her when it happened again, if it ever did. Rey had readily agreed, secretly hoping that she would never have to look into his sad, pleading eyes ever again.

Oh, how wrong she was. The bond opened on an almost bi-weekly basis, Rey guessed, and each time she resolutely ignored him. At first, Kylo had tried to goad her into speaking to him, or taunting her if he was in an especially pissy mood. After the first few sessions with absolutely no response from her, he decided to ignore her as well.

Luckily, the bond always opened when it was a quiet moment for each of them, and they usually spent it in uncomfortable silence, frustration and disappointment at the other person flowing between them until it cut off. This time was the first instance of it opening while one of them was actively on a mission, and Rey worried what the shift in circumstances could mean.

She felt Leia’s eyes on her face, studying her.

“Is anything wrong, Rey? You seem troubled.”

“I saw him again,” she said, keeping her gaze fixed on the mountains in the distance so she wouldn’t have to meet Leia’s eyes. “I was in a stormtrooper uniform, but he didn’t even acknowledge it! He seemed…” Rey struggled to find the right word. “Apathetic? Bored? It was very strange.” She looked down at her hands for a moment, noting the callouses and scars. “I could feel that he was surprised, but there was no rage, or anger.” She summoned the courage to look at Leia, who was gazing at her quizzically.

“Did he say anything to you?”

Rey frowned. “Yeah. He said ‘I prefer the wrap,’ and then the connection broke off.” Her eyebrows shot up as Leia gave a snort of laughter.

“Sorry,” she said, trying to school her face into something more serious. “That just seems like such a _Han_ thing to say…” her voice trailed off as a quiet sadness overtook her. Rey felt her heart twist in sympathy. Before she could reply, Leia closed her eyes and sighed. When she opened them, she’d become General Organa.

“Did this compromise your mission?” she asked. “Is that what you meant when you said you ‘had to rush a bit’?”

Rey opened her mouth to reply, but a thought suddenly came to her and she sighed. “I thought so at first, but now that I think about it there’s no way he could’ve known where we were.” She picked some lint off her pant leg, feeling a bit embarrassed she hadn’t realized it sooner.

Leia took another long sip of her caf, watching the clouds mute the golden light on the distant mountains. Her silver-grey hair was pulled back in a low, intricately braided knot. Rey remembered the first time she’d asked Leia to show her how to braid her own hair. The thought of keeping the three buns she’d worn most of her life left a hollow feeling in her chest, and she wanted to leave any reminder of Jakku behind her. Leia had smiled and shown her a simple style to keep her hair out of her face, braiding the sides of her head while leaving the rest loose as it grew longer.

The first time the bond opened after she started wearing the braids, she was working on repairing a coupling in the _Falcon_ ’s fuel line when Kylo appeared. The emotions she felt flowing from him through the bond had made her catch her breath and finally look at him for the first time in weeks. His face had been an unguarded mixture of sadness, regret and _longing_ as he stared at her. She thought she saw his lip quiver ever so slightly, but he’d clenched his jaw and looked away, once again ignoring her.

She made a point to wear the braids in her hair every day after that.

“Rey.” Leia’s tone pulled the younger woman’s attention to her immediately.

“I know I promised you we’d keep your…encounters with my son only between us.” She set her empty cup down on the table. “But perhaps it’s time we tell everyone else. If there’s even a slight chance it could compromise our missions, they need to know.” She sighed deeply. “We’ve worked too hard and for too long for it to come crashing down around us because we’re not on the same page as our allies.”

Rey clenched her jaw, thinking of Finn. She hated having to lie to him and their friends, but she couldn’t tell them. Not yet. She swallowed, looking away from Leia.

A knock sounded at the door before it slid open, revealing Kaydel Ko Connix. She nodded toward Rey in greeting as she entered.

“Senator Casterfo just arrived, General,” she said. “Everyone’s gathering in the command center.”

“We’ll be right there.” Connix nodded again before disappearing out the door. Leia stood, leaning on her cane, and Rey stood as well but paused when Leia held out a hand.

“It’s your choice, Rey,” she said as her eyes, so like her son’s, locked on Rey’s face. “But the longer you wait, the less control we’ll have over the situation. We _all_ have to be able to trust each other.”

Rey swallowed again, clenching her fists before relaxing. “I’ll tell them soon,” she sighed. “I just need some time to figure out how.”

Leia reached up and cupped her cheek gently, giving her a small smile. “I’m sure you’ll figure something out.” She turned and made her way out the door, her cane tapping with every other step.

Rey stood there for a moment longer, then took a breath and left the room, the door sliding shut behind her.


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So far I've been pretty good about getting the chapters posted on a regular schedule, so fingers crossed it stays that way!
> 
> This one has a couple of familiar faces if you've read a certain book or seen a certain cartoon series :)

Leia and Rey arrived at the command center at the same time as Poe and Finn. BB-8 led the way, once again in his signature orange and white. Leia smiled when she saw them.

“I see you’ve wasted no time in fixing your droid, Poe,” she said by way of greeting. “But don’t you think painting and re-painting him for every mission will give him some sort of identity crisis?” Rey and Finn laughed as Poe looked almost affronted.

“He’s not having an identity crisis, are you buddy?” He gave BB-8 a reassuring pat on the head, who responded with a negative sounding beep.

Rose was already at the central command console with C-3PO as the rest of the Resistance High Command trickled into the room, and they made their way over to her. A projection of a map of the galaxy was pulled up. Across from Rose and Threepio, two men, one with sandy colored hair and another with green-tinged hair and pointed ears were examining it and speaking in undertones. The sandy-haired man turned at the sound of their approach.

“Ransolm,” Leia greeted the man warmly, extending her hand. “I’m so glad you made it here safely.”

“Leia,” he replied with a smile, clasping her hand in both his own. “I’m glad we made it as well. We were dangerously low on fuel on approach to the base.” He nodded at the rest of them in turn, letting go of Leia’s hand and placing his hands on his hips. “General Finn, General Dameron, Master Rey. So lovely to see you again.”

“Senator,” all three of them greeted. Ransolm gestured to the other man behind him, who came up beside him.

“I don’t believe you’ve met Captain Syndulla?” he asked. “He and his crew have been one of our major points of contact in the Outer Rim.”

The young man shook each of their hands. “Jacen Syndulla. Nice to finally meet you. I’ve heard a lot about your exploits.” His violet eyes met Rey’s and they brightened with recognition. “You must be the new Jedi everyone is talking about!”

“Not quite a Jedi just yet,” she replied, slightly taken aback.

Captain Syndulla chuckled. “My father was a Jedi, you know.”

Rey’s eyes widened. “Really?”

He nodded. “Yep, but I can’t do any of that Force stuff. I got my mom’s flying skills instead.”

“How is your mother, Jacen?” Leia interjected. “I haven’t spoken to her in a while.”

“She’s doing good. She spends a lot of time on Ryloth since my grandfather is getting on a bit in age.”

Poe’s brow furrowed in confusion. “Wait, _Syndulla_? Your mother is _the_ General Syndulla?” he asked incredulously.

The captain smiled, his violet eyes crinkling at the corners. “Yep, that’s my mom.”

Rey and Finn shared an amused look as Poe got visibly excited. He turned to Finn, gripping his shoulder and pointing at the green-haired man. “Finn, Hera Syndulla was the best pilot in the Rebellion. She is _legendary_!” he explained enthusiastically.

The captain chuckled, a fond look in his eye. “Yes, she is, General Dameron.”

By this time, Leia and Ransolm had separated from their little group and were speaking quietly off to the side. Poe continued to gush as Rey and Finn looked on with amusement, Captain Syndulla listening good-naturedly as Poe praised his mother when Rose appeared by Leia’s side. “We’re ready to begin, General,” she said.

Leia nodded, then turned to Captain Syndulla and Poe. “General Dameron,” she said pointedly, one eyebrow raising. “Would you like to begin the debriefing?”

Poe swallowed, his ears going a touch pink. With a sobered “Yes, ma’am,” he cleared his throat and stepped up to the console to address the rest of the room.

Rey moved to go stand by Rose as Finn quickly leaned over to the captain. “Sorry about that,” he said quietly. “He’s usually way more professional. I’ve never seen him get that excited before.”

The other man chuckled. “It’s fine, don’t worry about it. I guess it’s good I didn’t tell him we flew here on the _Ghost_. He might’ve had a heart attack.”

“Alright everyone,” Poe began, his voice carrying through the room. “To start off, my team and I are glad to report another successful test mission by infiltrating the First Order base on Kriselist. Our message is infecting their computer systems as we speak.”

Their “message,” as they called it, was essentially their own version of propaganda. With Rose’s technical skills, they’d been able to create a holovid of Finn espousing the evils of the First Order that was designed to reach as many viewers as possible within the stormtrooper ranks. Finn, as a former stormtrooper, was the obvious choice to be the poster boy for their plan. The holovid itself contained a nasty virus of Rose’s creation that infected any computer system it was placed in, and it would run for three standard days, on and off for brief spurts at a time, before deleting itself as a fail-safe.

The actual message in the holovid was all Finn’s doing, and Rey remembered with glowing pride the first time she’d heard Finn practicing before they’d recorded it. Standing tall and straight, his voice firm with determination, he spoke:

_I was taken from a family I’ll never know. Kidnapped, brainwashed and trained to be a soldier fighting for the cause of the First Order. We were taught duty above all else, because duty leads to order. Order leads to stability. And stability leads to peace. But when I was ordered to kill for them…I couldn’t do it. I found a way to rise above what I was conditioned to think, and so can you. You are more than they made you. We are more than they made us._

The holovid was laced with a coded message for a rendezvous point for troopers who decided to defect. They’d only hit a handful of bases over the last few months, but they were confident they would begin seeing results soon.

“I believe that we are fully ready to begin training other groups to do the same,” Poe continued, inclining his head at Finn, who nodded in return.

“These test missions have proven that the First Order is spread thin enough on the ground that they aren’t impenetrable,” Finn added. “Small strike teams can easily make their way in without too much difficulty.”

“General Finn and I already have a short list of names we’d like to start training, if they’re willing of course.”

“Won’t these teams be at a disadvantage without our only Jedi?” Major Ematt spoke up. Rey shifted her weight, uncomfortable with everyone’s attention suddenly on her.

“I’d help whenever I could, of course,” she replied. “But obviously I can’t be in two places at once. And I’m confident the people Poe and Finn have chosen can do just fine without me.” Major Ematt nodded thoughtfully.

“We can start selecting people for the teams as soon as possible,” said Poe. “I’ll turn it over to Commander Tico now. Rose, what did we get?”

Rose punched a few buttons on the console and the map of the galaxy disappeared, and in its place appeared a communications report, the First Order logo emblazoned across the top.

“Most of the reports were about standard trooper deployments. A lot are being funneled to Corellia, which I’m guessing is to help with building ships for their fleet.” She frowned, scrolling down through the projection and highlighting one particular line of text. “This one was more interesting. It talks about stormtroopers being shipped out from a planet called Demir.”

“Demir?” Poe asked.

Rose nodded. “It must be somewhere in the Unknown Regions, because Threepio and I couldn’t find it on any star chart.” She pressed a button and the holoprojector began scrolling through multiple reports. “It’s popped up in all of the intel we’ve gotten from the First Order bases. But what makes it so interesting is that they only talk about troopers _leaving_ the planet to be deployed elsewhere, but troopers never going _to_ it.”

Finn rested one hand on the console and stroked his chin with the other. “So, there’s a secret base on a planet we’ve never heard of that’s supplying stormtroopers. Sounds like it could be a secret conditioning center.”

“Conditioning center?” Captain Syndulla asked.

“Where they take the kids they’ve kidnapped to train and mold them to serve the First Order,” Finn answered. “But adult stormtroopers are sent there for re-conditioning if they talk out of line or act out.” His mouth quirked at an odd angle and his eyes seemed to darken. “Not a great place to grow up.”

“I thought all First Order stormtroopers were trained on Star Destroyers for easier movement of troops?” Major Brance spoke up.

Finn shook his head. “They used to be, but once they started gaining a foothold on planets at the edge of the Unknown Regions they established permanent bases. I only know where the one I grew up in is, but there are definitely more out there.”

Soft murmurs filled the room as Rose hit a switch and the projection disappeared completely.

“And Demir is the only one with this strange discrepancy?” Commander D’Acy asked.

“Yes,” Rose replied, nodding. “It’s the only one with absolutely no troopers being funneled in, but there are _a lot_ that come out.”

Leia tapped her cane on the floor lightly, drawing everyone’s attention. “Well, it seems to me that we’ve got an interesting possibility on our hands. Perhaps we’ve been too broad when collecting our intel, and we should start focusing on these conditioning centers.” She looked over at Poe. “General Dameron, what do you think?”

Poe put one hand on his hip and the other on the console, his brow furrowed in deep thought. “It’s too odd to not be _something_ ,” he said. “If we don’t at least look into it, it may come back to bite us in the ass later.”

“I agree,” said Leia. “Commander Tico, why don’t you take the lead on investigating Demir?”

Rose straightened her back slightly. “Will do, General,” she said. “That’s all the intel from me.”

Poe nodded, then gestured to Ransolm. “The floor is yours, Senator.”

“Thank you, General.” The senator stepped up to the console. “As many of you know, I have been working to account for our allies in the Outer Rim who were…unable to help us at the Battle of Crait.” Rey couldn’t help but hear the slight bitter edge to his voice.

“With the help of Captain Syndulla and the crew of the _Ghost_ ,” he continued, gesturing to the captain, “we’ve been making progress. The destruction of the Hosnian system frightened many of our allies away, but those with ties to the Rebellion in the days of the Empire have been more receptive.”

“Are they willing to meet with us?” Leia asked.

Senator Casterfo sighed. “Yes and no. Some of the smaller systems are willing to help only if they are guaranteed greater political power in whatever new government is set up once the First Order is gone.”

“Not an unreasonable request,” said Major Ematt, stroking his white beard.

Leia placed a hand on the console, tapping her fingers gently with a thoughtful look on her face. “No, but it will need to be handled delicately. Who _has_ said they would help?”

“Ryloth and Lothal are committed,” said Captain Syndulla. “My mother made sure of that.”

Leia grinned. “Oh, I’m sure she did.”

Senator Casterfo continued to describe their current situation with their allies, but Rey found she couldn’t concentrate. The restlessness she usually felt during these meetings was beginning to creep up on her.

Rey leaned over to Rose. “Would you mind covering for me?” she whispered. Rose gave her a knowing look.

“Sure,” she whispered back. “The _Falcon_?”

Rey nodded slightly. “Yeah. I’ll see you later for dinner.” She made her way around the edge of the room slowly toward the door. As she left the room, she felt more than one pair of eyes on her back.

Rey slowly wound her way through the twist and turns of the tunnels. The hangar where the _Falcon_ resided also held most of the X-wings, and as she entered she saw Jessika look up from where she was perched on the wing of her ship. She sent Rey a wave and a smile, which Rey returned, before turning back to her work.

The ramp of the _Falcon_ was down as she approached.

“Chewie?” she called out, ascending the ramp. There was no answering roar or growl, which meant that the ship was empty. Rey walked down the corridor to the mess area, passing the dejarik table and kneeling down in front of the small bunk in the corner. She pressed a panel and the small compartment underneath opened, revealing a blanket, a couple of flashlights, and the Jedi texts.

Rey ran her fingers over the ancient spines. The knowledge of ages past inscribed on such fragile material…it was a wonder they survived the millennia. Rey had never even _seen_ actual paper before going to Ahch-to, much less read from a physical, bound book.

How had her life been turned upside down so fast? One minute she’s scraping by on Jakku, always teetering on the edge of starvation, and the next she’s flying across the galaxy with heroes and legends. She’d never dreamed in a million years that she would become embroiled in something so much bigger than herself.

And the truths she’d discovered, about herself and what she was capable of…

Rey shoved the compartment closed and stood up, feeling that restless energy course through her again. She went over to another compartment and roughly brought out a tool box, then made her way through the ship and down the ramp, determined to fix the stiffness on the landing gear. Keeping her hands busy would help distract her from any thoughts that led back to _him_.

As she set down her tool box she heard heavy footsteps approach. Looking up, she saw Chewie making his way over, carrying a crate that probably weighed as much as she did.

“Is that the new struts for the landing gear?” Rey asked. Chewie growled an affirmative, setting the crate down next to her and putting his hands on his hips.

“We’ll have to thank Maz properly.” She smiled, the dimples on her cheeks standing out. “Maybe you can finally take her up on that date?” Chewie gave her a look as he knelt down to dig through the tool box.

“What? I think you two would make a cute couple,” she teased, leaning over and lifting the lid. He roared softly in a non-committal way.

Rey pulled out the strut pieces and lay them on the ground. “You just can’t deal with the fact that she’s the only one who can beat you at dejarik.” She paused, weighing the spanner in her hand with a thoughtful look on her face.

“Chewie?” she asked softly. “Will you tell me the story you were telling Leia earlier?”

The Wookiee growled happily and began his story. By the time he was done Rey’s hands were covered in grease and her sides hurt from laughing so hard. The rest of the afternoon was spent pleasantly, the two of the them finishing one of the endless list of repairs to the _Falcon_ and Chewbacca regaling her with tales of his and Han’s adventures.

But, as Rey listened, she couldn’t help wondering if little Ben had ever laughed as hard at Chewie’s stories as she did.


	5. Chapter 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I've realized just how bad I am at these chapter notes.
> 
> Happy International Women's Day!

Kylo stared at the spot where Rey had been only moments before. He had barely any time to process that he was seeing her in stormtrooper armor, which was highly irregular, before blurting out the first thing that popped in his head. He’d felt her rising panic through the bond before the connection ended, which only added to his confusion.

Her presence had been a welcome distraction from the mind-numbing report he’d been reading. Setting the datapad on his desk, knowing he wouldn’t be able to finish reading it now, he moved to stand by the large viewport of the Supreme Leader’s office.

The First Order’s flagship, the _Indominus_ , hung suspended in space over Akiva. Gazing down at the great swathes of green jungle that covered the planet’s surface, he knew he should feel triumphant that they’d managed to secure a valuable ally. And when Bracca and Corellia had surrendered to them there was even more reason to celebrate.

But he felt nothing. The only thing Kylo Ren celebrated was the absence of another voice in his head after almost thirty years of torment, but even that felt like a hollow victory. And he knew the reason why it felt so hollow. It was because of _her_.

Despite all his attempts to distract himself – endless meetings, intense physical training, even just _sleeping_ – his thoughts always strayed back to Rey. He hated the hold she had over him, and desperately wished there was some way to cut off their bond for good, so he wouldn’t have to suffer through her ignoring him every time it opened.

Hatred, he knew how to deal with. But her disappointment…that was far worse.

He pinched the bridge of his nose. “ _I prefer the wrap?_ ” he murmured to himself, feeling the tips of his ears redden slightly with embarrassment.

A knock came at the door to his office.

“Enter,” he barked over his shoulder. He heard the door slide open, but he didn’t turn around.

“Supreme Leader. The rest of the Council is assembled. They are waiting for you.”

Kylo looked over his shoulder at the lieutenant standing just inside the doorway. The young woman stood at attention with a blank expression on her face.

“Tell them I’ll be there shortly,” he said, his voice curt as he turned back to the viewport. In the reflection of the transparisteel he saw her bow her head.

“Very good, sir,” she replied, before turning on her heel and exiting the room, the door sliding shut behind her.

Kylo moved away from the viewport, going over to a panel on the wall and pressing it. A compartment opened, revealing his re-forged helmet. The pieces of the original had been lost when the _Supremacy_ had been destroyed, so he’d had a new one built. He only wore it to official council meetings, and in the handful of First Order transmissions Hux had convinced him to appear in.

He no longer saw it as a way to emulate and honor his grandfather. Snoke had disillusioned him of that shortly before he snuffed out the life of that monster. The mask was simply a tool to assert his authority. A means to an end.

Reaching over, he held it in his hands for a moment. He ignored the revulsion that made his stomach twist as he slid it over his head, the front mouthpiece clicking into place. Feeling for the familiar weight of his lightsaber at his hip, he went over and grabbed his cloak from his chair, sweeping it over his shoulders as he exited the office. The two stormtroopers standing guard outside followed him as he stomped down the corridor.

The officers and troopers he passed on his way all stopped immediately upon seeing him and stood to attention, but he ignored them. The reputation he’d cultivated for years had helped secure his position, and since becoming Supreme Leader, the fear he instilled with his presence among the rank and file of the First Order had only grown stronger. He intended to keep it that way.

Rounding the corner with his cloak flaring out behind him, he saw an older woman approaching from the opposite end of the hallway. Her light grey hair, almost white in color, was pulled back in a tight bun at the base of her neck. Standing ramrod straight with her hands behind her back, the only evidence of her age were the deep lines in the dark skin of her face. She paused and inclined her head stiffly as he approached.

“Supreme Leader,” Grand Admiral Rae Sloane greeted, her voice deep and even.

He said nothing, instead sweeping past her into the room. He felt the sharp eyes in her weathered face tracking him before she followed him inside.

The murmuring voices of the other five members of the Supreme Council quieted and they stood with a scrape of their chairs as he entered. Generals Engell, Parnadee and Quinn kept their faces carefully neutral, while the expression on Hux’s face suggested he’d just smelled something foul.

Kylo didn’t fail to notice the way the rest of them stood even straighter as Grand Admiral Sloane came in behind him. As one of the founding members of the First Order, her presence commanded respect from the younger officers in a way Kylo’s never would. Even Hux wiped the disgusted look off his face when he saw Sloane.

Moving past them all, he skimmed the surface of each of their minds as he took a seat in the larger chair at the head of the table.

_The training blocks for the new lieutenants will have to be rescheduled…_

_I’m going to have whichever droid ironed this uniform thrown out the airlock…_

_Gods, if I have to hear him speak out of that helmet one more time…_

Kylo held in his sigh, bracing himself for another tedious meeting. He gestured with his hand and the rest of the Council took their seats, Grand Admiral Sloane taking a seat next to Admiral Griss and across from Hux.

“My esteemed Generals and Admirals,” he said, his voice sounding harsh through the vocoder of the helmet. “Any updates or progress to report?”

“Supreme Leader,” Hux began. “I’ve just received word that the new TIE Silencers for the Knights of Ren are ready for inspection on Tar Morden. Shall I schedule a visit once they’ve returned?”

Kylo waved his hand dismissively. “Yes, go ahead.” Hux nodded and tapped the screen of the datapad he held.

Admiral Griss cleared his throat. “We are also glad to report that the occupation of Corellia is going as well as we hoped. Almost half of the shipyards are now devoted solely to the First Order.”

“And the construction of the new fleet?” Kylo asked.

“Right on schedule,” said Sloane. “Half a dozen new cruisers should be well underway by the end of this standard month.”

“There’s been no sign of Resistance meddling, I take it?”

“Not a whiff, Supreme Leader,” General Engell spoke up. “They’ve barely been a blip on our scopes since you and General Hux routed them from Crait, so I doubt we’ll see any interference from them. But we’ve increased the amount of stormtroopers present on the planet to quell any thought of insurgency. Corellia’s fallen in line just as Akiva and Bracca did.”

Kylo’s mind conjured up the image of Rey in stormtrooper armor, but he said nothing.

General Parnadee leaned forward slightly over the polished table. “Now that we’ve gained control of a key Core World, I believe it is time we rethink our recruitment propaganda,” she said firmly. “Kidnapping young children was necessary when we were hiding in the Unknown Regions, but now we have a chance to legitimize recruiting children from the planets we’ve acquired.”

“As in, convince the people to give up their children to the First Order willingly?” asked General Quinn.

Parnadee nodded. “Exactly. Make them believe they’re giving up their children to serve a higher purpose, like the old Jedi order supposedly did.”

Quinn scoffed. “Yes, but the Jedi didn’t use mind control chips to keep their recruits docile and in line.”

Kylo head snapped to look at the general. “Mind control chips?”

“Yes, Supreme Leader.” Quinn’s brow furrowed slightly in confusion. “You are aware of Hux’s mind implant program, yes?”

Kylo’s silence spoke volumes. He slowly turned his masked face to look at the red-haired man. Hux kept his features carefully schooled, but he could sense Hux’s ire and annoyance increasing drastically.

“Why was I not informed of this?” Kylo’s voice held an undercurrent of anger, made very apparent by the vocoder. Hux stared him down.

“Supreme Leader Snoke decided the program would be on a need-to-know basis. At the time, you didn’t need to know,” he replied coldly. “I…apologize for neglecting to inform you.”

Kylo felt the tension simmering in the air as he studied Hux. The general was insufferable to a fault, and Kylo was acutely aware of the hatred the other man had for him. It was obvious to anyone who had functioning eyes. And it seemed that Hux enjoyed nothing more than undermining Kylo while still managing to avoid outright defiance. It was a skill he could almost admire if it wasn’t being constantly aimed at him.

Perhaps he should put Hux back in his place…but Kylo found that this time he simply didn’t have the energy to care.

“Apology accepted, General Hux,” he finally said, leaning back in his chair. Hux blinked, not expecting that response.

“Thank you, Supreme Leader,” he replied, his voice apprehensive. Kylo could sense he’d been expecting some sort of humiliating punishment but was thrown when he didn’t receive any.

Parnadee cleared her throat nervously. “If I may get back to the subject at hand, we’ll need to account for an influx of new recruits by expanding our conditioning centers and training bases,” she declared. “My officers can begin scouting new locations.”

“If we’re planning to expand the conditioning centers, why not expand the mind implant program beyond Demir as well?” suggested Sloane.

Hux bristled, his nostrils flaring. “Demir has been under _my_ control since its inception. I built that program from nothing, and _I_ will decide when it is time to expand.” His eyes narrowed. “You would do well not to interfere with areas that aren’t your concern, _Grand Admiral_.”

Sloane’s eyes flashed as she turned her head sharply to face Hux. “Maybe some outside interference is called for, _General_ ,” she retorted. “After the disaster of Starkiller Base, certain people shouldn’t remain unchecked with their pet projects.”

Kylo stood and slammed his gloved hands flat on the table.

“ _Enough_.” His harsh, mechanical voice stopped Hux as he opened his mouth to argue.

It was an old argument at this point that none of them, especially Kylo, were eager to hear again. Grand Admiral Sloane had brought herself out of retirement after the destruction of Starkiller Base, and was never shy about bringing up what she considered the greatest failure of the First Order, but what Hux chose to consider one of his greatest triumphs.

They continued to glare daggers at each other as Kylo sat back down in his chair. “Anything else to report?” he asked, his fists clenching and unclenching under the table.

Engell’s eyes darted back and forth between Sloane and Hux before he spoke, going on a long-winded tangent about the logistics of sending troopers to assist the Scrapper Guild on Bracca.

Kylo’s mind immediately began to drift, and he was glad the mask hid his boredom so effectively. Once again, the image of Rey began to pervade his thoughts.

What had she been doing? Where was she? He knew he should probably be concerned that she’d been wearing stormtrooper armor, but he found he was more curious than anything. And the panic he’d felt coming from her had to mean that he’d interrupted her in the middle of something she didn’t want him to know about. Which meant it was probably Resistance related and he should _definitely_ be concerned.

What did it say about him that, rather than feeling suspicious, Kylo instead felt relieved that this time she’d been forced to acknowledge his presence?

“…assist the Guild, Supreme Leader?” Kylo’s attention snapped back to the present as Admiral Griss aimed a question at him. The rest of the council was looking at him expectantly. He hesitated for a second, hoping it would seem like he was considering his answer.

“Give the Guild whatever they need,” he ordered. “We can’t afford to lose a single planet this early because we couldn’t keep up the appearance of civility with a bunch of scrappers.”

Griss nodded as if that was the obvious answer the whole time. “Yes, of course. You’re absolutely right.”

Kylo pushed back from his chair and stood, and the rest of the council stood as well. “If there is nothing else to report or discuss, this meeting is adjourned,” he declared abruptly as he strode past them.

As he reached the doorway, he brushed the surface of their minds again.

_I hate it when he just ends the meetings like that…_

_Those filthy scrappers better realize how lucky they are that we didn’t just blow them all to smithereens…_

_It’s amazing Hux has survived this long with his head so far up his own ass…_

That last thought made Kylo smirk beneath the helmet. He swept out the door, stormtroopers in tow, determined to go destroy a few training droids.

As soon as Kylo was out of sight, the other members of the council began exiting the room as well. Generals Engell and Parnadee left together, murmuring quietly to each other as they did. Hux came around the table and made for the door, but Sloane held out an arm to stop him.

“General Hux, a word?” she asked. He looked down at her arm suspiciously, but she just raised an eyebrow before looking over her shoulder at Griss. “I’ll catch up to you,” she said.

Griss gave a slight bow before heading out the door. Sloane lowered her arm as Hux put his hands behind his back.

“Yes, Grand Admiral?” he asked, sounding almost bored. She was a good head shorter than him, so she had to crane her neck to peer at his face.

“We’ve known each other a long time, haven’t we Armitage?” The use of his first name put Hux off-kilter for a second, not having heard it spoken out loud in a very, _very_ long time, but he quickly recovered his wits.

“Yes, we have,” he replied apprehensively. “Longer than I care to admit.”

“Then I don’t understand why it’s so hard for you to accept that I have your best interests at heart.” Sloane studied his face carefully, her dark eyes unclouded even with her advanced age. Hux glared down at her.

“My best interests?” he scoffed. “I would hardly count your constant nagging as ‘keeping my best interests at heart.’”

Sloane frowned, her eyes narrowing. “Nagging seems to be the only thing that can penetrate that thick skull of yours.”

“Is there a point to this conversation?”

Sloane sighed. “I simply want you to understand where your failure lay with Starkiller.”

“Oh, really?” Hux sneered. “And what is that?”

“Underestimating your enemies.” Her voice took on an edge. “The same thing happened with the Death Star when the Empire failed to take into account the human will to survive and _protect_. Something the Rebellion and the Resistance seem to share in abundance. And while I do admit that Starkiller accomplished more than the Death Star,” she continued, “when it failed, it failed _much_ more spectacularly.”

Hux glared down at the old woman in front of him. Yes, he had known her since he was a boy. Yes, she’d been a distinguished Imperial officer and she still commanded respect, even from him. But he didn’t appreciate her tone in the slightest.

He exhaled sharply through his nose. “I will not be lectured to like a child that needs reprimanding.” Leaning down so he was close to her face, he stared at her intensely. “I built a super weapon that surpassed anything the Empire ever built. I’ve created a generation of soldiers that could beat any of the clones pumped out by the Republic during the Clone Wars -”

“Which your father laid the groundwork for,” Sloane interrupted.

Hux grit his teeth together. “The old man may have laid the groundwork, but I’ve improved it beyond anything he _ever_ could’ve dreamed.”

“Yes, you have,” Sloane admitted. “Your ambition seems to know no bounds, but that ambition will mean nothing in the end if you fail to learn from past mistakes.”

“My ambition has served me well enough,” said Hux. “It’s why I’m standing here today and not lying dead on a backwater planet like my useless father.”

She scrutinized his face. “I see a lot of your father in you, Armitage.” Hux bristled at that as she continued, “But I always knew you would become a greater man than him.”

Sloane turned away from him and headed for the door. Hux’s mouth closed in a thin line as he flushed with anger at the comparison to his father. His hatred for the old man ran as deep as it had the day he’d had Phasma dispose of him.

Sloane paused at the doorway and looked back at him. “A little wisdom from someone who’s seen the cost of ambition among great men and women. Know your limits.” She gave him one last look as she left the room. “The higher the reach, the greater the fall.”

Hux stood there, alone in the meeting room simmering with anger. Of course he knew the cost of his own ambition, but what did that matter when he was among those who held the fate of the galaxy in their hands?

And Hux knew he was destined for even greater things. Sloane and his fellow officers believed that he’d peaked with Starkiller, but they had no idea he was capable of so much more.

He just had to bide his time carefully.


	6. Chapter 6

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello everyone! 
> 
> I hope you're all coping as well as you can with everything happening with the coronavirus. I'm sorry about the week long absence, it's been kind of stressful with figuring out how to work from home and some other personal stuff as a result of the quarantine. 
> 
> But! I'm excited to finally post this chapter, featuring our good good boi Ben.
> 
> Comments are appreciated!
> 
> Stay at home as much as you can! 
> 
> WASH YOUR DAMN HANDS!

The crackle of the lightsaber’s blade mingled with the sharp _whoosh_ as Kylo brought the blade down and through the torso of the training droid, neatly severing it in half. He breathed harshly from the exertion as sweat made his sleeveless shirt cling to his body.

Out of the corner of his eye he saw the last droid advancing on him, swinging one vibroblade overhead in a wide arc as the other swung at him from the side. Kylo ducked the side swing and twirled out of the way of the overhand one, grabbing the arm of the droid and slicing it off completely before swinging around to catch the remaining blade in his cross guard. The droids were on their highest difficulty setting, and Kylo grunted with the effort of holding the vibroblade in place. With a shove and a growl, he thrust the weapon away from him as he stretched out his hand and Force pushed the droid back about fifteen feet.

Before the droid had a chance to balance itself, Kylo rushed it, quickly slicing off the other arm and shoving the crackling blade of his lightsaber through its torso, pushing it all the way back against the wall. He held it pinned there for a moment, watching the lights in the droid’s photoreceptors blink out, before deactivating his saber. The droid slumped to the ground in a heap, the smell of burnt metal permeating the air.

Kylo ran a hand through his sweaty hair, panting as he went over to his water canteen on the ground and scooped it up, taking a long drink. Wiping his mouth, he surveyed the training room and guessed that he’d taken down about twenty-five training droids. He always set the training sequence to a random number, and he tended to lose count as he lost himself in the flow of combat.

Leaving the mess for the cleaning droids, he left the room and made for his private quarters. This area of the _Indominus_ was exclusively for the use of himself and his Knights, so it wasn’t crawling with stormtroopers or officers like the rest of the ship. The clack of his boots echoed as he traipsed down the empty corridor.

With a wave of his hand the door to his rooms slid open. The common area was large but spartan in its furnishings, with a large viewport opposite the door that was disguised from the outside as a security measure. Kylo didn’t have the same taste for ostentation that Snoke had had, so the Supreme Leader’s quarters were kept simple and practical. Two large couches faced each other in the center of the room while a large, empty desk sat by the viewport. A light blinking on the holoprojector on the desk indicated that he had yet another report waiting for his approval, and he stifled a groan.

_It never kriffing ends, does it?_

Another wave of his hand opened the hidden door in the wall that led to his bedroom and refresher. A bed large enough for three people faced the viewport, with the only other piece of furniture being a small table and a solitary chair.

Kylo tossed his lightsaber on the bed and entered the fresher as he pulled off his shirt, glancing at his bare torso in the mirror briefly. The scars Rey had given him stood out starkly against his pale skin, while older, more faded scars – courtesy of Snoke – criss-crossed his body like ghostly reminders. He avoided looking at his own face in the mirror, knowing he wouldn’t like what he found there.

He stripped himself of the rest of his clothing and stepped into the shower. Kylo often wondered how Rey would react if the Force connected them when either of them was in such a state of undress.

Well, he remembered how flustered she’d gotten at the sight of him without his shirt on, but the Force didn’t seem cruel enough to make them appear to each other naked. It preferred to torment them in other ways.

After a quick scrub down, Kylo stepped out of the fresher with damp hair and a towel around his waist. He slowly dressed in his customary black tunic, black pants and black boots, delaying the moment when he’d have to sit at his desk and act at being the Supreme Leader.

One thing he’d quickly realized, after the adrenaline wore off and the disappointment and anger had faded slightly, was that being Supreme Leader – with all the authority and power that came with the position – was _boring as hell_.

The minutiae of the day to day often made him want to scream with frustration. When he’d just been Kylo Ren, he’d only been answerable to Snoke and no one else. Now, as Supreme Leader, he was answerable to _everyone_ below him in the extensive bureaucracy of the First Order, with all its petty rivalries and insufferable bootlicking.

The only reprieve he got from the tedious work of running a giant military organization was when he could train to the point of exhaustion and collapse into bed afterwards. But then he’d have to wake up and face another meaningless day filled with reports, endless meetings and Hux trying to undermine him at every turn.

He knew it didn’t have to be this way. It _shouldn’t_ be this way. If Rey had just accepted his hand that day in Snoke’s throne room…

Kylo summoned his saber to his outstretched hand as he emerged into the common area and clipped it to his belt. The comms light on the desk began flashing as he approached it, and he pressed the button.

“What is it?” he asked curtly.

“ _Sir, the Knights of Ren have returned from the_ Supremacy _. Shall I send them up?_ ”

“Yes. Tell them to come directly to my quarters.”

“ _Very good, sir_.”

He turned away from the desk to once again gaze out the viewport as he waited. He’d dispatched the Knights of Ren to the wreck of the _Supremacy_ , leading a large team to recover anything that was still salvageable, and they’d been gone for three standard months. Their main mission, though, was to look for any of Snoke’s possessions that had survived. They hadn’t been keen at the prospect of trawling through what was left of the massive ship, but they went willingly enough.

Snoke’s quarters hadn’t been hit directly, so he was hopeful that at least _something_ had survived.

He sensed the Knights approaching his door and opened it with a twitch of his fingers. Turning around, he watched Vicrul and Ap’lek push a hovercrate through the doorway, followed by Kuruk and Cardo pushing a second crate. Trudgen and Ushar made up the rear.

“Successful mission, then?” Kylo asked as he came around the desk.

“More or less,” replied Vicrul as they pushed their crates past the couches to the desk, where they set them on the floor. Kylo went over and pressed a button on the side of the crate, and the lid unsealed with a hiss. He lifted it away and peered inside. A flash of metal caught the light.

“We had to chase away quite a few scavengers and scrappers,” hissed Ushar, the sound escaping through the breathing tubes on his helmet. “Even having a Star Destroyer there with us didn’t scare away the braver ones.”

Kuruk nodded. “Target practice.”

“I see.” Kylo replaced the lid of the crate. “This is all you managed to find?”

“Much of it had been picked through already,” said Cardo. “We were sure you didn’t want Snoke’s extensive collection of robes, so we didn’t bother with that.” A couple of the other Knights snickered.

“No, I did not want those,” Kylo deadpanned, going over to the other crate and unsealing the lid. He peered inside this one as well, where an intricately carved wooden box sat on top of the pile.

“ _Were_ you looking for anything specific?” asked Trudgen. Kylo glanced over at him and saw that Trudgen had a new blaster strapped to his hip. He surmised that some unlucky scrapper had run afoul of the large man, with his death trooper helmet and his vibrocleaver, and had lost their blaster – and their life – in the process.

Ignoring Trudgen, Kylo sealed the lid on the crate again. “You’re dismissed for now. Once I’m done, you can divide up whatever’s left.”

“Is there anything else we should fetch for you, _Master_?” The sneer in Vicrul’s voice was badly concealed.

Kylo narrowed his eyes, sidling up to the shorter man and putting his face close to the grid-like plate of his helmet. “Is there something you’re implying, Vicrul?” he intoned softly. Vicrul clutched the handle of his scythe at his hip.

“Not at all,” he replied, his voice calm.

“With all due respect, Master,” Ap’lek spoke up, making Kylo whip his head around to look at him. “I think what Vicrul means to say is that it seems like we’ve become nothing more than glorified scavengers and errand boys.”

The look Kylo gave him was enough to make a weaker man piss himself with fear, but Ap’lek merely gazed back at him steadily, his patchwork mask making it impossible to read him.

“Are you questioning my orders, Ap’lek?”

“No, Master. We’re simply wondering what your priorities are now, since you seem reluctant to tell us.”

Cardo stepped up next to Ap’lek. “We wait around doing nothing until you decide to send us off on some boring errand!” he exclaimed, waving his arm cannon around in a vague gesture as he spoke. “We’re not fighting. We’re not hunting down our enemies.” He threw his arms out for emphasis. “What is our purpose now, exactly?”

Kylo’s fists clenched hard enough to make his leather gloves creak. One of the couches made an audible _crack_ as it split down the middle, but none of the Knights reacted.

“Your _purpose_ is to follow the orders of your Master,” he said darkly. “Last time I checked, that was still me.” He crossed his arms. “Is our arrangement here with the First Order not satisfactory?” They all glanced at each other.

“It is satisfactory,” hissed Ushar. “But we had hoped, when you became Supreme Leader, that we would see more conflict.” He swept a hand out to encompass all of them. “And be able to use our…unique skillsets.”

Kylo sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose. It was true that he’d been neglecting his Knights somewhat, and before he’d sent them to the _Supremacy_ he’d begun to feel their restlessness growing.

“Once we’ve returned from Tar Morden I’ll find new assignments for you,” he said tiredly, raising his head from his hand.

“Tar Morden?” Kuruk asked. Kylo nodded.

“Hux informed me your new TIE Silencers are ready.” Kylo saw Kuruk shift his feet and clench his fists. He knew, as a fellow skilled pilot, that Kuruk was extremely eager to get behind the controls of a Silencer.

“Any other complaints?” Kylo asked pointedly.

“No, Master,” Ap’lek replied, shaking his head.

“Good. You’re dismissed,” he said with finality. With a slight bow of their heads in acknowledgement the Knights turned to leave.

“Ushar,” Kylo called out to their retreating backs. Ushar stopped and turned to look at him as the others left the room.

Kylo raised his chin. “Twenty-five.”

Ushar took a second to process what he meant, then he nodded and strode out of the room, no doubt on his way to the training room to beat Kylo’s record.

Once the door slid shut and he was alone, he moved over to the first crate and unsealed it.

***

Kylo stared at the priceless artifacts before him.

Snoke’s obsession with the history and legacy of the Sith had led to this collection – weapons with Force-strengthened blades, armor made from Mandalorian beskar, a carved wooden box that held two very delicate-looking pieces of parchment that would probably turn to dust if handled too roughly, and other items that no doubt had an intense, bloody history behind them.

These were nothing compared to the smaller items that drew Kylo’s immediate attention. The holocrons sat on the table, dull and inert. But he was acutely aware of the secrets they could contain. Snoke had guarded them jealously, only allowing Kylo snippets of knowledge as he furthered his training in the dark side. He had seen two of the holocrons before, but the third was new to him.

Cautiously, he reached out a gloved hand to touch the third holocron on its point. The matrices inside flared a dull red before going dark again. Kylo raised an eyebrow and looked at his hand curiously before removing the glove. He reached over again, this time picking it up and holding it in his bare hand.

The holocron immediately flared to life, the crystalline structure flaring into a blinding red for a moment before dimming to a constant glow. A low hum began to permeate the air as the holocron lifted from Kylo’s hand and hovered in the air before him. The points of the pyramid twisted and detached themselves, spreading away from the main body before beginning a slow orbit. Kylo could feel his heartbeat in his throat and sweat gathering at his temples.

A voice – deep, raspy, and immeasurably ancient – filled the room as it spoke.

_That which is Three is One_

_That which is One is now Two_

_A prince in darkness and a girl of the sun_

_A legacy neither would choose_

_A raging war hard fought_

_A tender love hard won_

_Only then will Balance be wrought_

_By the Two that are One_

The voice repeated itself, then again with another voice over top it, then again with another, and another, until the room was filled with a cacophony of voices and whispers – all repeating the same words over and over. The points of the pyramid began spinning faster and faster as the noise became deafening.

Kylo covered his ears, trying to block out the sound, but the voices penetrated his mind and seemed to be growing louder.

_Was this all the holocron held?_

He reached out and snatched it from the air. The points, which had become almost a blur they’d been spinning so fast, flew like a bolt to the main body and reattached themselves. The holocron flared red once more before going dark, and the voices dissipated into the air like fog.

_By the Two that are One…_

Kylo’s mind was reeling, and he let out a harsh breath. The words – almost certainly a prophecy of some kind – felt like they’d been ingrained in his psyche.

He sat down heavily in the chair, still clutching the holocron tightly. He ran his free hand over his mouth as he gazed down at the small pyramid.

Now he understood why Snoke had hidden this one way. Holocrons that contained prophecies were _extremely_ rare, and finding one required great power and Force ability, something which his former master had in spades.

Kylo replayed the words over in his mind. The implications of the prophecy – and why Snoke had kept it from him – slowly dawned on him.

The prince and the girl…who else could that be but him and Rey? Snoke’s immediate interest in Rey made much more sense now. Kylo’s stomach turned at the memory of her agonized screams as the monstrous old man tortured her.

As for the _Three_ , he recalled Luke speaking of a trio of extremely powerful Force wielders during one of his lessons…

_“They’re sometimes called the gods of Mortis, or the Ones: the Father, the Son, and the Daughter,” explained Luke as he knelt on the ground, drawing what looked like a flower with four petals in the dirt at his students’ feet. “The Daughter personified the Light side of the Force, embodying creation and peace.” He drew another shape over the flower symbol. Four jagged rays radiated outward from the center between the flower petals. “The Son personified the Dark side, representing destruction and chaos.” He drew a circle around both symbols. “And the Father acted as the balance between the two.”_

_One of the students raised their hand. “Master Luke, what do you mean by ‘personified’?”_

_Luke stood and brushed the dirt from his robes. “Some of the old Jedi masters believed they were real people, and I do, too.” He shrugged, smiling mischievously. “The Force has manifested itself in stranger ways.”_

Kylo clenched his teeth at the memory. Placing the holocron on the desk, he leaned back heavily in his chair and pulled off his remaining glove, tossing it onto the desk as well. He steepled his fingers in front of his mouth.

What did the prophecy mean by _Two that are One_? The _Two_ were also obviously himself and Rey, but how were they _One_? She’d come careening into his life from nowhere, thwarting his plans and causing havoc. And yet he’d felt instantly drawn to her, and he could tell she felt the same.

And when the bond between them opened, had that pulled them closer together on an even deeper level somehow?

There was something at work in the Force. Something Snoke was aware of and had deliberately hid from him.

_A legacy neither would choose…_

Snoke had so wanted him to live up to the legacy of Darth Vader, but no matter how hard he tried there was always something just slightly off. It weighed him down and colored every aspect of his life. Now, with hindsight and a head devoid of the insidious whisperings of Snoke, it was easy to see how it brought him nothing but misery.

And Rey? She had no legacy to live up to, but it burdened her all the same.

Kylo scowled at the objects on the desk in front of him, the hatred of his dead master flaring hot in his chest. Resisting the urge to hurl everything on the desk across the room, he stood and ran a hand through his still damp hair.

 _A girl of the sun_ …

Rey certainly was that, with her tanned skin and the light, airy clothes she’d been wearing when he first saw her on Takodana. Jakku had not been kind to her, but her passion and her anger shone like the sun that scorched the sands of that awful planet.

Even as she burned in the light, he pulled the darkness ever tighter around him like a shroud.

“Balance…” he murmured to himself, gazing out the viewport into the void of space.

Had Snoke seen the potential of him and Rey coming together? Was that what the prophecy meant by _Balance_? If so, they’d been _so close_. He’d offered her the galaxy and the chance to rule it with him. Surely, that would’ve brought balance after decades of turmoil.

But she’d left him in the smoldering ruins of Snoke’s throne room. How could they bring balance if she wouldn’t even look at him?

Kylo looked down at his bare right hand. He ran the pad of his thumb over his fingers, remembering the feel of Rey’s fingertips on his.

The Force truly did have a cruel sense of humor.


	7. Chapter 7

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well folks, this chapter is about twice as long as any of the previous chapters. I was debating splitting it into 2 chapters but I didn't think it flowed as well that way. 
> 
> Hope you enjoy the little cameo thrown in there ;)
> 
> Stay home if you can. Wash your hands. We'll get through this!

Kafrene was just as dingy and smelly as ever.

Finn pulled his scarf up around his nose to block the horrible smells wafting around them as he followed Poe down the crowded street. The smoke and steam that carried the smell of food vendors mingled with the ammonia odor coming from the tenements above them in a way that made Finn’s stomach turn. As they moved further away from the dockyards, the press of bodies around them lessened and the tall buildings gradually changed to a sprawl of shacks and hovels.

Poe scanned their surroundings as they made their way down the thoroughfare, seemingly immune to the smell.

“I don’t think this is the right area,” Finn commented, his voice muffled through the scarf.

“Maz said he usually sets up shop in section three,” replied Poe. He craned his neck to get a better view from behind the tall Ithorian in front of him as he counted down the line of shacks to their right.

“Usually?”

Poe ducked around the Ithorian with Finn close behind. “Well it’s not exactly _legal_ , now is it? They have to move around sometimes.”

“Most of the things going on here are illegal.” Finn grimaced as a particularly pungent waft of _something_ hit his nose. “Why couldn’t we just stick with our regular guy? He’s closer to the rendezvous, anyway.”

Poe slowed down enough for Finn to come up right next to him and spoke in his ear.

“Because this new guy has contacts on Akiva,” he whispered. “We need ground level intel from people who can get on and off planet more easily than we could.”

Finn shivered slightly at Poe’s closeness and nodded. They both turned and continued forward, pushing past a trio of green-skinned humanoids with facial tattoos and long robes.

“Maybe we should’ve brought Chewie with us, you know, in case this guy turns out to be some sort of freak,” Finn suggested. Poe looked over at him and raised an eyebrow.

“Are you saying we’re defenseless without him?” he teased.

“No, I’m not,” Finn countered, rolling his eyes. “I’m saying it’s easier to get stuff done when you have an eight-foot-tall Wookiee at your back.”

Poe chuckled. “I’m sure he’s happier being on the ship than being out here with that sensitive nose of his.” He stopped suddenly and looked off to his right. Finn skid to a halt to avoid running into him.

“There!” he said, pointing at a single shack in a long line of almost identical shacks. “Right where Maz said it would be.” He grabbed Finn’s hand and dragged him over to the small dwelling. Nothing about the outside suggested it was anything particularly special.

Finn’s nose crinkled. “Are you sure?”

“Positive,” replied Poe as they came up to the door. “Maz has a mind like a duristeel trap. I’d trust her memory over mine any day.” He raised a fist and knocked on the metal door. “And they should be expecting us anyway,” he added.

The sound of shifting crates and sliding metal came from behind the door, along with what sounded like someone grunting with the effort of moving them. A crash resonated through the door followed by a loud string of swears. Finn looked over at Poe with raised eyebrows, but Poe only shrugged. The muffled swearing became louder before the door was wrenched open.

“-don’t know why I keep you around!” A tall, elderly looking Weequay stood in the doorway shouting over his shoulder. As he turned to face them, he rolled his eyes and put his hands on his hips. Finn could see the flash of gold jewelry on the wrinkled reddish-brown skin of his wrists and under the collar of his shirt. Several long braids fell down his back from underneath his hat. His eyes narrowed behind his goggles, and he sniffed as he looked them up and down.

“Yes, can I help you?” he asked in a lightly accented voice.

“Hondo Ohnaka?” Poe replied. The Weequay’s small eyes narrowed even further.

“Who’s asking?”

Poe smirked. “Maz Kanata sends her love.”

There was a pause, then Hondo tilted his head back and began laughing uproariously, startling both men in front of him.

“Oh, that Maz!” he exclaimed, wiping a non-existent tear from his eye. “Always the jokester, she is! She said to expect a very handsome Wookiee, so I’ve been brushing up on my Shyriiwook.” He moved aside and flourished his hand with a grin. “Come, come, come inside. Any friend of Maz’s is a friend of Hondo’s!”

Finn brushed a hand over the blaster strapped to his thigh but followed Poe as he entered the shack. It was larger than it looked from the outside. The limited floor space was covered with crates and containers of varying sizes, with a narrow walkway between them that led to the back of the room. Several small boxes were scattered across the floor, which must have been the source of the crash they’d heard.

“We do have a Wookiee with us, but he’s back on the ship,” Poe said as Hondo shut the door behind them.

“Ah! Then I will get to practice my Shyriiwook after all!” Hondo clapped his hands and rubbed them together as he moved past them to stand in the middle of the room. He spun around to face them. “So, my non-Wookiee friends, who are you and how can I be of service?”

Poe stepped forward and held out his hand. “I’m Poe,” he said as Hondo shook his hand. He nodded back over his shoulder. “That’s Finn. Maz said you could hook us up with fresh supplies.”

Hondo put his hand on his chest. “You are right to come to me! I swear on the grave of my dead mother, you can find no better produce in the galaxy.” He rubbed the tips of his fingers together in the universal gesture for money and smiled. “For the right price, of course.”

“Yeah, Maz said you’d say something like that,” Poe sighed. “Look, we’re sort of on a tight budget, but she said to tell you she’s calling in a favor.”

Hondo put his fingers to his temple and sighed dramatically.

“You let someone bail you out from the Hutts _twice_ and suddenly it’s like you owe them a life debt!” he lamented.

As Hondo talked, Finn ran his eyes over the crates and boxes that filled the room. Some of them had insignias printed on the side that he recognized, but many of them he didn’t. He thought he even saw a First Order symbol on one of the boxes, but it was hard to tell from that angle. Finn knew Maz was friendly with some seedy people, and Hondo seemed to be no exception.

“Your companion doesn’t talk much, does he?” said the Weequay, his hand on his chin as he eyed Finn.

Finn held his gaze, his face stoic.

“Just have a lot on my mind at the moment.” He grabbed Poe’s elbow. “Can I speak to you for a moment?” he asked quietly, pulling Poe closer to the door.

“What?”

Finn turned so his back was to Hondo.

“This guy’s definitely a pirate. Can we trust where he gets his supplies? I don’t feel comfortable taking food for the Resistance if it comes at the cost of other peoples’ livelihoods.”

“I prefer ‘liberator of excess cargo,’” Hondo said loudly, then he sniffed. “But no, I’m done with the pirating business. I’ve been a good, honest smuggler for quite some time now.” He nodded at Poe. “And your companion here needs to learn how to have a sneaky conversation.”

Poe put a hand on Finn’s shoulder. “I know you’re skeptical, but if Maz trusts him, then I have to trust him, too.” He gave a reassuring squeeze as he grimaced. “Our options are limited here, buddy.”

Finn chewed the inside of his cheek for a moment. “Fine,” he sighed, nodding reluctantly. “As long as we can still make it to the rendezvous on time.”

Hondo sidled up to them and threw an arm around Poe’s shoulders.

“I can assure you I have excellent relationships with my suppliers,” he said cheerfully. “I take their extra produce and sell it to people like you who are sick of eating ration packs all the time at a high markup, and the farmers get a cut to make some extra money for their families.” He shrugged. “It’s just business.”

Poe lifted Hondo’s arm and ducked out from underneath it. “And are some of those suppliers on Akiva?” he asked.

“Why, yes! Some of my best fruit comes from Akiva.” Hondo went over and patted the side of a crate, kissing the tips of his fingers on his other hand. “Juiciest korazon berries you’ll ever taste!”

Poe looked over at Finn and raised an eyebrow. “I don’t doubt it,” he said. “But we’re hoping you can also provide us with something else.”

Hondo crossed his arms with a smirk. “Such as?”

“Information,” Poe replied. “We’re willing to pay extra, of course.”

“Depends on what kind of information you’re asking for,” said the Weequay, stroking the short spikes that jutted from his jaw.

“Anything to do with the First Order. Anything your suppliers hear or see them doing on Akiva. Even rumors. We need all the intel we can get.”

“That won’t be too difficult,” said Hondo. “Akiva is positively crawling with First Order stormtroopers!” He clapped his hands together. “But first, let us seal the deal on this new partnership, yes?”

He held out a hand to Poe, who reached over and shook it. Hondo grinned, and Finn saw more than one tooth shine golden in the low light.

“Excellent! Now, we discuss payment.” Hondo turned and shouted towards the back of the room. “AP-7, bring my datapad! We have new customers!”

Finn leaned over Poe’s shoulder. “I’ll contact Chewie and let him know we’ll be back soon,” he murmured as a harried looking protocol droid appeared from behind a stack of crates. Poe nodded.

“Maybe let him know about our eccentric new friend?” he said out of the corner of his mouth.

Finn’s tongue clicked as he opened his mouth. “Yeah,” he said, then turned to open the door to the shack, leaving Poe inside as the Weequay ordered his droid to start putting together their cargo.

Finn stood on the threshold of the shack and pulled out his comm, eyeing the people passing by on the street.

“Chewie, come in,” he spoke into the comm. He heard an answering growl after a moment.

“We’ll be heading back soon. This guy’s kind of a weird one, just a heads up.”

A questioning roar came through the comm. Finn smiled.

“No, just eccentric. He looks older, so maybe age has raddled his brain a bit.”

Chewie howled softly in response.

“Alright, it shouldn’t be too long. See you soon.” Finn tucked the comm away and re-entered the shack. Poe was handing over the datapad to the protocol droid, who took it and began moving around the room, scanning the surrounding crates for their chosen supplies. Hondo smiled broadly and clapped a hand on Poe’s shoulder.

“My friend, I believe this is the start of a very profitable partnership!” he exclaimed.

“Profitable for you, you mean?” Finn murmured under his breath as he shut the door. He went over and stood beside Poe as the pilot removed Hondo’s hand from his shoulder.

“We’ve transferred your payment, so is there anything you can tell us about what’s happening on Akiva?” he asked, putting his hands on his hips. To Finn’s surprise, Hondo seemed to sober, and he shed his cheery salesman façade.

“I wish I didn’t, but sadly I do,” he sighed, shaking his head. “They’ve started conscripting children from the poorer families,” he admitted. Finn felt his stomach drop.

“One of my suppliers lost her youngest daughter that way,” Hondo continued, putting a hand on his chest as a pained expression crossed his face. “It is terrible that they take them so young! Even the Empire didn’t stoop that low.”

“That is _really_ not good,” Finn said softly. His brow furrowed with worry as he looked over at Poe, who ran a hand over his mouth, feeling uneasy about this information.

“Have they started doing this on any of the other planets?” he asked, aiming his question at Hondo. The old pirate shrugged.

“I don’t know,” he replied. “Akiva is the only First Order planet where I do business, but it doesn’t seem like it’ll be that way for long. They’re snatching up planets left and right!”

“Not if we have anything to say about it,” Finn said, his voice firm with determination.

Hondo smiled and pointed at him.

“Hah! It is good to see that old Rebellion spirit once again! The galaxy has been missing it for far too long.” He adjusted his goggles and sniffed. “Well, my friends, where shall we deliver your supplies?”

“Hangar bay twenty-three,” said Poe.

“Excellent! AP-7 and I will deliver it within the hour.”

Finn nodded at Hondo as he and Poe turned to leave. “Pleasure doing business with you.”

Hondo leaned against one of the crates nonchalantly. “You as well! And I look forward to meeting this handsome Wookiee!”

Finn gave the old pirate a small wave as he followed Poe out the door. They stood on the threshold for a moment and gave each other bemused looks.

“Not what I was expecting,” Poe muttered, his mouth twitching as he tried to suppress a smile.

Finn shook his head and huffed out a laugh. “Nope,” he said as he pulled the scarf up over his nose. “Let’s get going. I need to check the rendezvous.”

They stepped into the flow of bodies, heading back the way they’d come towards the dockyards. The oppressive, busy atmosphere of Kafrene allowed them some anonymity, but there was still a small First Order presence, so they had to stay alert. Occasionally, the flash of white stormtrooper armor caught Finn’s attention and they diverted down side streets to avoid the patrol squads.

They walked in silence for a few minutes as Finn ruminated on the information they’d just received.

“Poe,” he murmured as they rounded a corner. “What Hondo said about Akiva…”

Poe frowned. “Yeah. It doesn’t sit well with me, either.” He looked over at Finn. “But isn’t that how you were taken?”

“Yeees,” Finn said slowly, his brow furrowing. “But this is different. They used to hire bounty hunters or other people to kidnap children for them so they could build their ranks in secret.”

“Well, it seems like they’re not trying to be secretive anymore,” Poe remarked.

“No,” Finn said grimly. “They don’t really have a choice now, do they? Not after Starkiller.”

They turned another corner onto the promenade that ran the length of the dockyards where they usually landed their ship. On one side stood shops and tenements that were only slightly less dingy than their counterparts on the outskirts, and on the other side ran a wall that encircled the main dockyards and hangar bays. Each hangar bay entrance cut into the wall stood about a hundred yards apart from each other. This area of Kafrene was less crowded than the quartered off sections that surrounded it, but the many repulsorlift carts being pushed to and fro carrying cargo had them jumping out of the way to avoid being run over.

Finn yelped as Poe grabbed him by the jacket and yanked him out of the way of an oncoming cart stacked high with boxes full of loose circuitry and mechanical components. The small, rotund alien pushing the cart shouted something angrily at Finn in a growling language he didn’t understand before continuing down the street.

“Thanks,” he said, straightening his jacket. Poe smoothed down the fabric on his chest and flashed him a smile that made Finn catch his breath.

“Anytime,” he said as they turned in the direction of hangar bay twenty-three. “Can’t have our poster boy ruin his pretty face.”

Finn raised an eyebrow. “Pretty face?” he asked incredulously, but Poe just kept walking.

The entrance to their hangar was open as they approached it. Their ship, an old Allanar N3 light freighter Maz had helped them acquire, sat right where they’d left it. As they passed through the wide doorway, the ramp descended, and Chewbacca strode down it and greeted them with a roar. BB-8 followed him down the ramp with a series of welcoming trills.

“He said they’d be here within the hour,” Poe said as they approached. “And just a heads up, Chewie, he might try to speak to you in Shyriiwook.”

Chewie tilted his head and growled questioningly. _How does he know how to speak Shyriiwook?_ Poe put up his hands.

“I don’t know, you’ll have to ask him yourself,” he replied.

Finn checked the small chronometer on his wrist, then stepped up beside Poe and cleared his throat.

“If I don’t head over now, I’ll be late,” he said. “Why don’t you stay here with Chewie so he’s not blindsided by Hondo?”

Poe looked for a moment as if he wanted to argue, but he only sighed instead. “Okay. But take BB-8 with you so you’re not alone.”

Finn nodded. “Let’s hope we get lucky this time,” he said, then gestured with his hand at the little droid. “Come on, BB-8.”

They exited the hangar and turned right, heading towards the older area of the dockyards. The crowd thinned even more until they reached a section that was almost devoid of people and cargo. At the very end was an abandoned hangar, with a large number THIRTY emblazoned over the entrance. Its doors were firmly shut.

Finn slowed his pace and nonchalantly strolled over to the wall of one of the abandoned store fronts where someone had discarded some rusty sheet metal and an overturned repulsorlift cart. He positioned himself between the debris and hunkered down by the wall until he was seated with one knee pulled up and his other leg stretched out in front of him, trying to make himself look as miserable as possible. BB-8 rolled over and settled next to him.

“Keep an eye out for anyone that goes in that hangar,” Finn whispered, pulling the scarf over his head so his face was in shadow. He checked his chronometer again as BB-8 began scanning the area around them. After a few minutes of waiting, the cold of the metal wall on his back began to seep through his jacket, making him shiver slightly, but he settled in as best he could.

This was the most crucial part of their plan, and it hinged on so many factors working out in their favor. In the months since they first began sowing the seeds of rebellion, during all the times he’d sat in this exact same spot and waited and hoped for someone to appear, Finn began to realize just how slim their chances were of it actually working.

The code they’d used in their viral message was subtle, one that Finn had assured General Organa and Poe that only stormtroopers would recognize. So far, they’d only established the rendezvous point on the Ring of Kafrene, but other possible locations they’d scouted out were places where someone could easily blend into a crowd, and they were close to the bases they’d infiltrated.

But there were so many factors they couldn’t control. What if a stormtrooper realized what the code was and reported it to any of their commanding officers? What if a defector was caught trying to sneak away and they revealed where they were going and why? What if they brought a defector back to the Resistance and they turned out to be a spy?

Some days he was confident that it would work, but there were many times where the uncertainty of it all made it impossible for Finn to sleep. He’d voiced his concerns to Rey one night after returning to the Resistance empty-handed once again.

 _“I want to believe so much that this is gonna work,” he’d said, sitting on Rey’s bed as she sat at the desk and tinkered with the lightsaber. He rubbed at his eyes until he saw spots as the frustration mounted. “But what if I really_ am _the only one who saw how wrong all of it was? What if I was the only one who cared enough to fight back?”_

_Rey had set down her tools and turned to face him, grabbing his hand with her long, calloused fingers._

_“If there’s one thing I’ve learned since I met you,” she’d said, a thoughtful look in her eyes as she stared down at their joined hands. “It’s that no one is really set in their ways, and they’re fooling themselves if they think otherwise. And I think that, sometimes, a person needs a push in the right direction at just the right time.” She’d raised her eyes to meet his. “It’s up to them whether they choose to act on it or not.”_

_There’d been an odd edge to Rey’s voice as she’d said that, which puzzled Finn. But he’d just gently squeezed her fingers and gave her a small, reassuring smile._

Out of the corner of his eye, Finn saw movement off to his left. He turned his head enough to see a figure emerge from the doorway of an abandoned shop front. The figure was tall and hooded, with a large poncho draped over their shoulders. They turned their head from side to side as if they were looking down the length of the promenade, and didn’t seem to see Finn hunched on the ground.

With light footsteps, they quickly crossed the open walkway and went up to the panel that opened the hangar doors. Finn watched as they took something out from beneath their poncho and inserted it into the panel, and the doors slid open on rusty runners just enough for one person to squeeze through. The figure slid through the opening and into the darkness beyond.

Finn shifted into a crouch, his heartbeat pounding in his ears. BB-8’s photoreceptor locked on him and the droid warbled a question.

“Sweep around and come in from the right,” he whispered. “I’ll come in from the left.”

BB-8 whistled that he understood and rolled out from behind the overturned cart, veering off to the right. Finn slowly stood and shuffled away in the opposite direction. He made a wide arc along the empty promenade until he reached the wall of the dockyard, and he was sure he was out of the direct line of sight of the open hangar door. Further down the way they’d come, he saw BB-8 do the same.

Pressing close to the wall, Finn cautiously made his way towards the hangar door, unclipping his blaster as he did so. BB-8 slowly rolled toward him to meet him in the middle.

He paused just before he reached the opening, putting up a hand to stop BB-8 from rolling forward any further, and strained his ears for any sound coming from within the hangar.

Silence.

Suddenly, an arm shot out of the darkness and grabbed Finn by the lapel of his jacket. With a yelp of surprise, he was yanked through the opening. He barely had time to register the dark interior of the defunct hangar, filled with random piles of junk and debris, before the hand let go and he tripped over his own feet and crashed to the ground.

Finn quickly rolled to the side into a crouch and tried to bring his blaster up, but a foot collided with his hand and the blaster went flying further into the hangar, and he grunted in pain from the impact. The light spilling from the opening was suddenly blocked by the silhouette of a leg coming right for his face, but his instincts kicked in and he ducked. Finn felt his body move almost on its own, the long hours of close quarters combat training from the First Order kicking in as he grabbed the leg in mid-air and twisted around to pull the owner of the leg over his shoulder.

The figure gasped as they lost their footing and they were flung to the ground with their own momentum. They tried to curl in on themselves, but a loud grunt escaped them as they landed hard on their side. Their hood fell off, and in the dim light Finn could see it was a young woman with dark brown skin and even darker hair. She whipped around to face him, but before he could open his mouth she launched herself at him.

Finn threw himself backwards and managed to stumble to his feet, barely missing the punch that flew past his face. She kept up a flurry of blows, but Finn ducked and weaved around them as her fighting style triggered his own muscle memory, and he began to anticipate her punches. He saw the determination on her face turn to frustration and confusion.

What he didn’t expect was the stranger pulling out a metal pipe from underneath her poncho with her free hand and striking him in the hip. He cried out in pain and stayed on his feet, but only for a moment before her foot came up and she kicked him in the stomach, once again sending him backwards and onto the floor.

Finn landed on his back near a pile of junk someone had tossed aside in the hangar to be forgotten, sending up a puff of dust that made his nose itch and his eyes water. Spluttering, he put out a hand to push himself up, and his fingers brushed against a long metal rod. Through the haze of dust, he watched as the woman advanced on him, bringing her pipe over her head and down in an arc towards him.

He gripped the rod and flung it up to block the blow. The two pieces of metal collided with a resounding _CLANG_ that echoed through the hangar. The rod vibrated in Finn’s hand violently enough to make him wince. Cringing at the loud noise, the young woman backed off quickly, shaking out the hand that had been holding the pipe. Finn scrambled to his feet.

“ _Stop!_ ” he shouted, holding his hands out to the side in surrender. “I’m not here to fight you!”

The stranger glared at him but didn’t get any closer.

“Why did you follow me in here?” she demanded. Finn pulled the scarf, which had somehow managed to stay on his head, away from his face.

“ _We are more than they made us_.”

Her brow furrowed in confusion as she looked at him, then the realization began to dawn on her face.

Before she could open her mouth, a whirling ball of orange and white shot out of the darkness, arc wielder extended and sparking. BB-8 jabbed her in the calf and she crashed to the ground with a grunt of pain.

“BB-8, no!” Finn rushed over to the young woman and dropped to his knees beside her, tossing aside the metal rod. BB-8 pulled the arc wielder back into its compartment with a trill of protest but backed off.

“Are you okay?” he asked as the woman blinked rapidly, her face twisted with discomfort. She pulled herself up onto her elbows with a groan.

“Yeah,” she croaked. “Your droid’s got a nasty bite, though.”

“Oh, I’m aware.” Finn sat back on his heels as she slowly pulled herself up into a sitting position. In the dim light of the hangar, he saw that she was even younger than he originally thought. She spoke with an accent similar to Rey’s, and there was a slight gap in the front of her teeth. She gazed at him through the gloom, her eyes wide with awe.

“It’s you,” she breathed. “You’re _the_ Finn. From the holovid.”

A wonderful mix of pride, hope, and sheer _relief_ bloomed in Finn’s chest.

“Yeah, that’s me. You saw the holovid?” he asked eagerly. She nodded.

“On the base on Worolos,” she said. “Everyone in the barracks saw it! When it finally deleted itself from the system, the commanding officers tried to spin it as some useless Resistance propaganda.” Her voice grew in intensity the longer she spoke. She leaned in closer. “But we saw what they couldn’t see, me and my squad mates and some others, too.”

Bringing a hand up to her chest, she tapped out a rhythm with her fingertips. To anyone else, it would look like a nervous tick, drumming against their arm or thigh. But to a First Order stormtrooper, taken as a child and raised in communal barracks with dozens of other frightened and lonely children, this secret code was extremely familiar.

Tapped out on the walls of their bunks, usually late at night, they could have entire conversations without speaking a word. There was a silent agreement among the children to share the code only with those they knew wouldn’t rat them out to their commanding officers. It spread as the young “cadets” were transferred to other bases or aboard ships. And, as far as Finn knew by the time he defected, none of the higher-ranking officers were aware of it.

In the holovid itself, Finn made sure that most of his body was visible, and with strategically placed hand and arm movements, had tapped out the time and location of their rendezvous, while trying to make it look as natural as possible, on the slim hope that _someone_ would notice.

It was on this – a secret code created by children – that their entire plan rested.

Finn tried to tamp down his excitement, but he couldn’t help the grin that spread across his face, because it had _worked_.

“What’s your name?” he asked, eager to get down to business.

“TZ-1719.”

“Are there others with you?”

The young woman – TZ-1719 – shook her head. “No, it’s just me.”

Finn felt a twinge of disappointment, but he stood and held out a hand to her.

“Well, one is better than none,” he said with a smirk. She glanced between his hand and his face for a moment before she took it.

Now that the adrenaline of the fight was wearing off, Finn felt the sharp ache of a bruise forming at his hip where she’d hit him with her pipe. He winced as he shifted his weight to help her to her feet.

“Sorry about that,” she said sheepishly.

“Don’t worry about it,” he replied, wheezing only slightly. “That was some impressive fighting.”

“Thanks.” TZ-1719 brushed the dust from her poncho as Finn began searching the ground for his blaster. BB-8 rolled over to her, giving her an apologetic beep.

“It’s fine. I’ve had worse shocks than that,” she told the little droid, eyeing him warily before she looked over at Finn. “So…what happens now?”

 _One step at a time_ , he supposed. Spotting his blaster in the dusty shaft of light coming from the gap in the door, he went over and retrieved it. He glanced at the chronometer on his wrist.

“We need to head back,” he said, clipping the weapon to his hip. “They’re probably done loading supplies by now.” He looked over at TZ-1719. “Do you have everything you need to take with you?”

She gestured down the front of her body. “This is all I brought with me.”

“No blaster?”

Her eyebrows shot up. “Do you think if I had a blaster, I would’ve come at you with a pipe?”

Finn thought about that for a moment, then nodded. “Point taken.”

Wrapping the scarf around his head once again, he headed for the hangar entrance. The young woman pulled her hood up and followed close behind with BB-8 trailing after her.

The two humans and their droid companion slid through the small opening and onto the almost empty thoroughfare. With a quick glance at their surroundings, Finn turned and headed back the way they’d come, walking with a slight limp. TZ-1719 moved up to walk beside him as he pulled his comm out of his jacket.

“Poe. I’m headed back now. Are we ready to go?”

After a moment the pilot’s voice came over the comm.

“ _Copy that. Yeah, we’re almost done. Hondo’s trying to talk to Chewie in Shyriiwook and it’s not going over well._ ” A slight pause, then with nervousness in his voice: “ _Did anyone show up?_ ”

Finn smirked. “You’ll see.” He switched off the comm before Poe could reply.

Beside him, TZ-1719 kept herself slightly hunched forward, her hood almost covering her eyes. Even with the bulky poncho, he could see how tightly wound and alert she was, and the anxiety radiating off her. The urge to ask her so many questions was almost unbearable, but he knew they needed to get her on the ship and secured before they could debrief her. Certain precautions had to be taken as well before they could bring TZ-1719 back to base.

The rest of their journey was silent, and soon they arrived back at the hangar bay. They entered and saw Chewbacca pushing the last of the supply crates onto the freighter. Poe stood at the base of the ramp with Hondo and his stressed-looking protocol droid next to a large, empty repulsorlift cart. They turned as Finn approached, removing the scarf from his head. The young woman kept her head down and stuck close behind Finn, with BB-8 just behind her.

Poe’s eyes widened at the sight of his new companion while Hondo gave a cheery wave.

“Hello again, my friend! Finn was it?” he asked, the gold in his teeth flashing as he smiled. “I was just saying goodbye to my new Wookiee friend and your captain.” He clapped a bejeweled hand on Poe’s shoulder, which Poe didn’t seem to appreciate.

“Thanks again, Hondo,” the pilot said, shrugging off the Weequay’s hand. “We’ll be sure to let Maz know you honored the favor.”

“Of course! Don’t ever let anyone tell you that Hondo Ohnaka is not a man of his word.” Hondo directed his protocol droid over to the controls of the cart as Chewbacca came down the ramp behind them. “These are dark and dangerous times, and sometimes honor is all we have. But then again, when has it _not_ been a dark and dangerous time for the galaxy?”

With that oddly poignant remark coming from so unscrupulous a figure, the old Weequay followed the cart out of the hangar. He turned and called back over his shoulder.

“Until next time, my friends! I look forward to our new partnership!” Then he let out an awkward mixture of growls and moans – a bad attempt at Shyriiwook in a mouth not designed for it – and disappeared into the crowded thoroughfare beyond. 

“You have some strange associates,” TZ-1719 murmured under her breath. Finn sighed, but didn’t contradict her.

As soon as Hondo was gone, Finn put a hand on TZ-1719’s back and gently pushed her along with him as he strode over to Poe and Chewbacca. The young woman recoiled slightly at the sight of the Wookiee towering over her.

“Wow, um…” Poe stammered as he stared at TZ-1719, the expression on his face bordering on disbelief. Finn had never seen him at a loss for words and it was surprisingly endearing. Poe cleared his throat and composed himself.

“Chewie, warm up the engines while we get everything secure,” he said, falling back into their usual routine. Chewie groaned and turned to head back up the ramp. Poe addressed Finn.

“Take her to the mess area and cuff her. I’ll join you once we’re in hyperspace.” He leaned down toward BB-8. “Make sure she doesn’t try any funny business.” BB-8 warbled that he understood.

“Wait. Cuffs?” TZ-1719 asked, sounding almost panicked.

“It’s just a precaution until we’re sure we can trust you,” said Finn. She gave him a skeptical look, then sighed, resigned.

Following Poe and BB-8, Finn guided her up the ramp into the cargo hold. Once in the narrow corridor beyond, Poe reached for the ladder off to the right, climbing it and heading for the cockpit. Finn pushed her along behind the little droid until they reached a smaller open area. Cupboards and storage spaces with a small counter underneath lined one wall, and on the other side a small table jutted from the floor, surrounded on one side by a curved bench protruding from the wall.

“Have a seat,” said Finn, gesturing to the bench, then going over to one of the cupboards. TZ-1719 went over and plopped herself down on the bench, pulling back her hood. BB-8 stuck close by her, his large photoreceptor never leaving her face.

The ship jostled underneath them, indicating they were now airborne. Finn rummaged through the cupboard until he found the pair of old cuffs he was looking for. He turned to see TZ-1719 watching him with wide brown eyes. In the brighter light of the ship and without her hood, he could see the dark circles under her eyes he hadn’t noticed before.

Finn went over and knelt beside the bench, extending the linking band between the cuffs as long as it would go.

“Sorry about this,” he said, attaching one cuff underneath the bench and the other to her ankle.

“I didn’t expect defecting to feel like being taken prisoner,” she said drily, lifting her leg to inspect the restraint. Finn rolled his eyes.

“You’re not a prisoner. Like I said, it’s a precaution.”

“Do you do this with all your defectors?” she asked as he stood and put his hands on his hips.

“Actually, you’re our first one,” he informed her. “Well, you know, besides me.”

Her mouth dropped open in surprise. “I’m the first?”

She looked away from him, and Finn watched as several different emotions flitted across her face in quick succession before settling on exhaustion. She shut her eyes and leaned forward to put her elbows on the table and cradle her face in her hands, taking a deep, shuddering breath.

“Are you okay?” Finn asked, his voice laced with concern.

“Yeah, I just – uh.” TZ-1719 rubbed her face and looked back at him, giving him a weak smile. “Felt a bit faint. Haven’t eaten in a couple days.”

“Hold on,” he said, going over to a different cupboard. He pulled out an emergency ration stick from a pack that hadn’t expired yet and tossed it across the room to her. She caught it in midair.

“It’ll be a while before we get back to the base. It’s not much, but it’s better than nothing.” Finn gave her a small smile as he went over and sat at the opposite end of the bench.

“Thank you,” she said gratefully before taking a large bite out of the protein-packed tube. She tried to eat slowly so her stomach wouldn’t become upset after almost two full days without food, but it was difficult since she was almost ravenous. She was so hungry that she didn’t even care that Finn was watching her intensely as she ate. Poe entered the room just as she swallowed the last bite.

Finn perked up. “How long till we get back?”

“About four hours,” said Poe, going over to the counter and leaning against it. “So, plenty of time to debrief our guest.”

“Poe, this is TZ-1719,” Finn said, an undercurrent of pride in his voice. “TZ-1719, this is Poe Dameron.”

Her eyebrows shot up. “The famous fighter pilot?”

Poe shrugged nonchalantly and put his hands on his hips.

“I’m actually a _General_ now, but yes.” He flashed her a winning smile. Her eyes traced him up and down, then she cocked her head to the side.

“Somehow I thought you’d be taller,” she said. Finn bit his lip to keep from smiling as Poe blinked.

“Thanks?” he replied, unsure if he should be offended. “In any case, it’s lovely to meet you, TZ-17…”

“One-nine,” Finn finished for him.

“Yeah, sorry.” Poe crossed his arms and frowned. “Are all stormtrooper names a mouthful?”

“Yes,” Finn and TZ-1719 answered at the same time. Poe smiled and shook his head.

“That’s something we’re gonna have to think about for the future,” he muttered to himself, then he raised his head and addressed TZ-1719. “So. As far as where we go from here, we should warn you there’s going to be a certain level of distrust at the beginning.”

TZ-1719 raised the leg that was cuffed and gave it a jiggle. “Yeah, I figured that.”

“Good.” Poe nodded. “As long as we’re on the same page.”

“We want to trust you,” Finn chimed in, his voice grave. “But I’m assuming you know just how fragile the situation is?”

The young woman nodded. “Seems like you’re taking a big gamble.”

“Huge,” Poe agreed.

TZ-1719’s face hardened.

“And I took an enormous gamble coming here to put my life in your hands,” she said with the barest tremor in her voice. All the frustration and uncertainty she’d been struggling with for so long bubbled to the surface, and it was hard to keep her voice steady.

“I swear to you, I don’t have any bad intentions toward the Resistance! The First Order ruined my life.” She looked over at Finn with pleading eyes. “And I want to make sure they don’t ruin anyone else’s.”

Finn’s mouth thinned into a line as he and Poe exchanged a quick glance.

“We have a way to make sure what your true intentions are once we get back to the base,” he said after a moment. “But for now, tell us…”

He leaned over the table, his dark eyes locked on hers.

“How did you escape?”


	8. Chapter 8

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Finally, after 3 weeks of tweaking and re-wording I feel like this chapter is publishable/postable. If you've been sticking with this fic and eagerly waiting for updates, thank you for being patient!
> 
> I hope you're all staying safe and healthy! The next chapter probably won't be posted before May 4th so I'll just say right now: MAY THE FOURTH BE WITH YOU! :D
> 
> EDIT 11/16: After 7 months of making no progress because I finally lost my spiteful momentum against TROS I decided to give this a re-read and realized I'd made a big oopsie in this chapter and decided to fix it.

TZ-1719 clasped her hands together on the table in front of her and studied them as she spoke.

“I was assigned maintenance duty in the transport hangar on the base on Worolos,” she began. “I’ve always had more of a head for tech and engineering than combat. Ever since I was little, I’ve loved taking machines apart to see how they work. Even before I was, uh…taken.”

A vague memory came to mind that made her pause – a memory that was so old she wasn’t sure if it was real or if she’d dreamt it. The image of her own small, chubby toddler hands taking apart a toy bird her parents had given her to see how the mechanism made the wings flap.

“I, um…” She cleared throat and pushed the memory away. “I thought I was lucky to be able to work on the transports and other ships all day, and not have to worry about being shot at.” She splayed open her hands palm up on the table. “And _then_ , I thought I was lucky to not be anywhere near Starkiller Base when that went to hell.”

Poe silently agreed. He’d been right in the middle of the chaos, after all. 

“We heard rumors that a stormtrooper had defected and helped the Resistance destroy Starkiller,” TZ-1719 continued. “All of the higher ups denied it, but they doubled down us anyway, _especially_ after what happened to the _Supremacy_. The training got more intense, the shifts and lists of duties got extended, all of the punishments got harsher. One of my squad mates…” her voice trailed off as her eyes turned glassy. “She was so exhausted from the longer shifts that she fell asleep while on watch duty.”

She swallowed around the lump in her throat.

“Our commander brought her out in front of the entire company and shot her in the back of the head for ‘dereliction of duty.’”

Poe’s jaw clenched in response to her words. Finn’s face hardened into a stoic mask.

“It felt like we’d been dropped into a nightmare,” she said softly, her eyes distant. “Seeing what the First Order was willing to do to its own soldiers. To the people we had grown up with and trained with, who were just as dedicated as the rest of us.” She shook her head. “But we didn’t have a choice, did we? And it’s not like we could talk about it openly. You’d be accused of being a traitor and executed almost on the spot.”

Finn knew all too well how disobedience was punished. It was the first thing the First Order tried to condition out of you once you were taken as a young child; to follow orders and not ask questions.

TZ-1719’s eyes brightened as she trained them on Finn.

“But then I saw you in the holovid,” she said. “And it became _real_. It wasn’t just a rumor. One of our own had defected when they said it was impossible!”

A steeliness stole over her features.

“So, I made a choice. I wasn’t going to be a cog in their machine anymore. I’d never been more terrified in my life, but I _knew_ I had to do it.”

Finn felt a chill go down his spine. _I made a choice that I wasn’t going to kill for them_. The sound of his own voice echoed in his mind. Seeing the resolve on her face made his chest swell with pride for the fellow ex-stormtrooper sitting in front of him.

“You said you saw the holovid on Worolos?” he asked. She nodded.

“That was the first infiltration mission we did,” said Poe, his brow furrowed. “That was over three months ago. How long ago did you escape?”

“About three weeks. Ran out of ration packs two days ago and haven’t slept much either.”

“And _how_ did you get away?”

“I rigged an emergency power cell to overheat and explode. It set fire to one of the commander’s quarters and I stole a shuttle in the confusion. Scrambled its signature once I got in hyperspace and came to Kafrene.”

“Do you still have the shuttle?” Poe asked, hoping they could add another First Order ship to their very small but very valuable collection.

“No, it’s floating somewhere in the asteroid field around Kafrene,” TZ-1719 said. “I used an escape pod to go down to the surface.”

Poe rubbed at the stubble on his chin, wondering if it would be worth it to go back at some point to look for the shuttle. Probably not, he surmised.

“Your escape definitely sounds less destructive than ours was,” Finn commented.

“Ours?” TZ-1719 asked.

“I helped him escape,” Poe said, smiling as he put a hand on Finn’s shoulder and squeezed it. “But that makes what you did all the more impressive, because you did it alone!”

TZ-1719 gave him a tired smile, but it faded just as quickly as it appeared. Finn could see the exhaustion taking hold of her, but there was one more question he had to ask.

“Do you know if there are any others who want out?”

Her eyes seem to brighten for a moment.

“Yes,” she said. “Like I said, we couldn’t talk about it openly, but…” She tapped her fingers on the table, the rhythm in short, simplified bursts. Finn instantly understood.

_Leave base. Leave First Order. Be free._

“I could hear more than one person tapping on the walls of our barracks late at night,” she continued, huffing out a soft laugh. “One of the captains thought there was something wrong with the plumbing with all the noises coming from the walls.”

“I’ll bet,” said Finn, smiling. He wanted to keep asking her questions, but she looked like she was struggling to keep her eyes open. He felt a twinge of sympathy.

“Listen. You look like you’re about to pass out, so why don’t you get some rest before we get back to the base?” Finn stood from the table and moved to stand next to Poe. “You’re going to have to answer all these questions again and more, so I’m sorry about that in advance.”

She shrugged one shoulder, then stifled a yawn.

“I think we might have an extra thermal blanket around here somewhere,” said Poe, turning to one of the storage compartments along the wall.

TZ-1719 put out a hand to stop him.

“No, I’m fine. Thank you,” she said, oddly touched by the kind gesture. It was a bit disorienting after the severity and formality of a life in the First Order, where kindness was a weakness to be exploited or destroyed.

“My poncho is warm enough,” she added. Poe shrugged.

“Alright,” he said, moving away from the compartments. “BB-8, you’re in charge of watching her while she sleeps,” he informed his droid. BB-8 whirred an affirmation and rolled over to plant himself next to the bench.

Poe nodded in approval, then addressed TZ-1719. “Remember, no funny busi-”

“No funny business,” she finished. “I know. I’d prefer not to be shocked again.”

“As long as we’re still on the same page,” Poe retorted.

TZ-1719 arranged herself on the bench as comfortably as she could as Poe and Finn left the room. She curled up on her side with her arm under her head and closed her eyes, too tired to care that she was essentially a prisoner of war until they decided she was trustworthy.

She’d have the luxury of caring when she woke up and had to face a whole new round of questioning. But for now, with food in her belly and the threat of capture by the First Order no longer looming over her, she fell into a deep sleep.

********************************************************************************************

Finn couldn’t keep the smile from his face as he and Poe entered the cockpit. Outside the rectangular viewport, the blue trails of hyperspace light streaked past the ship. Chewie greeted them with a questioning roar from the co-pilot’s seat.

“Yeah, go ahead and send the transmission,” Poe replied as he sat in the pilot’s chair. “Let High Command know that we have a special guest.” Chewie began flipping the appropriate switches to send their encoded transmission to the base.

Now that they were away from TZ-1719, Finn let his professionalism drop as he fist pumped the air a couple times, unable to contain his excitement anymore.

“Poe, it _worked_ ,” he said. “I can’t believe it actually worked!”

“Really? Because I had faith in you the whole time,” Poe teased with a smirk, but the look in his eyes was sincere.

“But don’t get too excited yet, buddy,” he continued. “Rey still has to talk to her first before we can celebrate.”

In the event they brought a defector back to the base, the plan was to confine them, interrogate them, and then let Rey speak with them. Although she was reluctant to voice her idea at first, she’d suggested that she could probe their minds, albeit with their permission first and, she assured them, _much_ more gently than Kylo Ren’s torturous methods.

The thought of anyone rooting through his head made Poe’s stomach churn with nausea. Sometimes he would wake from a nightmare convinced he could still feel the sting of Kylo Ren’s probing fingers in his mind. He wouldn’t wish that feeling on anyone, except maybe Kylo Ren himself and that idiot, Hux.

But while he didn’t necessarily agree with the method, he trusted that Rey would never abuse it.

Chewie growled a question; one which Finn was hoping to avoid until they got back to the base.

“If she turns out to be a spy, we’ll do what we have to,” Finn sighed. “But I honestly don’t think she is.”

“What makes you say that?” Poe asked.

Finn was now acutely aware of the bruise forming on his abdomen. He’d ignored it while they’d been questioning TZ-1719, but now he put a hand on his ribs and tried to hide his discomfort.

“The way she went after me at the rendezvous,” he said. “No one who fights that desperately has anything to lose.”

Poe was silent as he considered Finn’s words. While he wanted to believe TZ-1719 was genuine, they couldn’t afford to take any chances with the Resistance being so vulnerable.

Before he could reply, Finn spoke again.

“I’m going to go double check the supplies inventory. Hopefully Hondo didn’t short us,” he said as he turned and exited the cockpit.

Poe watched him go without telling him they’d already double and triple checked the inventory, but Finn needed an outlet for his restless energy after the events of the day. He turned to face the console and exchanged an amused glance with Chewie.

The rest of the journey was uneventful. TZ-1719 slept peacefully under the watchful photoreceptor of BB-8 while Finn puttered around the ship and occasionally checked in on her. He found the med kit and spread numbing gel over the bruise on his abdomen – which was forming very clearly in the shape of a foot – to dull the pain.

Poe let him know when they were about to exit hyperspace, and he went over to TZ-1719’s sleeping form and gave her shoulder a gentle nudge. Her eyes flew open as she jolted awake. Finn threw himself back to avoid her swinging fist. BB-8 trilled in alarm and extended his arc wielder.

“Woahwoahwoah!” he exclaimed. “It’s okay! It’s just me! You’re okay!”

“I know! I’m sorry!” she gasped. She took a deep breath and rubbed her eyes. “You just startled me. I’m sorry.”

“Don’t worry about.” Finn put his hands down from their defensive position, and BB-8 retracted the arc wielder. “We’re about to come out of hyperspace.”

She adjusted her poncho, the linking band of the cuffs clattering to the floor as she sat up on the bench.

“So, are these cuffs going on my wrists now?” she asked.

“Yeah.” He paused. “And we need to blindfold you.”

She gave him a dry look but said nothing as he tied a clean rag around her head, covering only her eyes, then unclasped the cuff on her ankle and moved it to her wrists. They sat in awkward silence as they felt the ship enter Iskalon’s atmosphere.

“Finn?” TZ-1719’s voice was quiet.

“Hmm?”

She hesitated, then said, “No matter what happens, thank you.”

Finn frowned. “For what?”

“For speaking out. For showing us that there’s a better way.”

Finn felt warmth bloom in his chest. He smiled at her, even though she couldn’t see it.

**************************************************************************************************

Rey knelt by the spare bunk in the mess area of the _Falcon_ , tapping her finger against her chin and debating which of the Jedi texts she wanted to study that day. Artoo sat at the table, engaged in a game of dejarik with Maz, who was perched on a toolbox on the bench for added height so she could see the board clearly. Her wizened hand reached up and adjusted her lenses so that her eyes seemed to grow twice as big as she studied the holographic figures in front of her.

“My dear girl,” she said. “I believe Artoo here has either been forgetting his lessons from Chewie, or he’s letting me win.”

Artoo let out a protesting series of beeps, pointing at Maz indignantly his extended arm.

Rey laughed. “Oh, I don’t doubt that she’s cheating.” She plucked out the smallest and thinnest of the ancient volumes from the drawer, which closed with a quiet hiss.

“I’ve had a millennium to perfect my technique. I don’t need to cheat.” Maz smirked at Artoo, then pressed a button on her side of the table. One of the holographic monsters – the squat but spindly Grimtaash – grabbed Artoo’s Monnok figure and hurled it across the board where it promptly faded away, leaving Grimtaash alone and dancing a celebratory dance. Artoo rocked from side to side with a moan as Maz chuckled.

“A rematch is always an option, dear,” she said, then turned to Rey, readjusting her lenses so her eyes shrank down to their normal size. “Any progress on the lightsaber?”

Rey stood and leaned against the wall, cradling the small book in her hands. “Sort of. I’m almost done with the crystal housing. I’m just waiting on a part I asked Rose to find for me to weld it in place.”

Maz nodded. “If anyone can salvage that old thing, it’s you. I’m surprised it worked as well as it did after all those years.”

Rey shifted uneasily where she stood. She didn’t have the heart to tell Maz, or any of her other friends in the Resistance, that no matter how well she fixed the lightsaber casing, she doubted she would be able to fix the sundered kyber crystal. Nothing she’d read in the Jedi texts had offered any advice on what to do if your crystal was broken, and she worried that the lightsaber might never be usable again.

Rey cleared her throat and said, “I’ll be in my room if you need me, Artoo.”

The droid trilled in reply, indicating he’d probably still be getting his rocket booster handed to him by the time she got back. He flipped a switch on the underside of the table and the board reset, with the full contingent of holographic monsters in place for a new game. Maz scoffed.

“With that attitude, you _definitely_ will be,” she said.

Rey was smiling to herself as she left them to their game and passed through the corridor and down the ramp of the _Millenium Falcon_ , book in hand.

She made a point to set aside time to study the Jedi texts every day while she was at the base, and she preferred the quiet and privacy of her own room. With Threepio’s help, she had managed to translate most of the contents, but there were some passages where the dialect was so old that even Threepio’s vast language database couldn’t decipher it. And she really needed to start digitizing the pages before they fell apart completely.

Recently, she’d focused her energy on the more accessible book in the small collection, whose title Threepio translated as _The Jedi Path_. It seemed to be an early handbook of sorts for younglings, and the language was less flowery than the other texts.

After healing Rose’s broken wrist, she’d scoured the texts for anything that would help her increase her ability to heal using the Force. The Resistance was constantly short on medical supplies, so she wanted to do whatever she could to help alleviate the problem.

She’d just made it back to her room when she saw Connix out of the corner of her eye, striding towards her.

“Rey,” she called out. “The generals and Chewie are back.”

Finn and Poe were, more often than not, collectively called “the generals” since they were practically glued to each other’s sides most of the time. Rey could admit to herself that she was a little bit jealous of their growing relationship. But only a little.

The lieutenant’s face lit up with a smile. “And they brought someone back with them,” she said.

“Brought someone back?” Rey’s eyes widened. “Like a defector?”

Connix nodded. “They just took them for questioning. General Organa wants you ready outside the interrogation room when they’re done.”

“Alright. Give me a sec,” said Rey, opening to the door to her room. She gently set _The Jedi Path_ on her desk next to the broken lightsaber pieces, then rejoined Connix in the corridor.

They descended through the carved-out tunnels, passing other Resistance members going about their daily tasks. Their makeshift interrogation room was located on the lowest level of the mine in which their base was situated, next to the brig and far away from potential escape routes for any prisoners they might have. They’d been using it as an extra storage room until now.

As they walked, Rey felt apprehensive about what she planned to do. Probing into someone’s mind was an extreme invasion of privacy, but it was the only way they could be absolutely sure that any defectors they brought back weren’t double agents or spies.

Even though it was her idea, she still couldn’t help feeling conflicted about it, especially after Poe told her about his experience with Kylo Ren. She’d been spared the pain he’d described – although she hadn’t enjoyed it any more than he did – and that meant it could be done without inflicting pain on the other person, which she certainly didn’t want to do.

Rey must have been making a strange face, because Connix looked over at her, concerned.

“You alright, Rey?” The lieutenant’s question brought her out of her thoughts. “You seem a bit tense.”

Rey sighed. “I’ve only been able to practice on Finn, but it was easy with him since he trusts me. I don’t know how well this is going to work with a stranger.”

“I don’t pretend to understand anything about the Force,” said Connix. “But we all have faith that you can do it, Rey. We got your back no matter what.” The lieutenant smiled at her, and Rey returned it.

“And if you want more practice, I’ll volunteer.” She added, shrugging. “It might help us to know what it feels like if we were ever captured and taken to Kylo Ren for questioning, like you and Poe.”

“I hadn’t thought of that, actually,” Rey admitted, her brow furrowing. Connix was right; if any of them were captured they would be defenseless against an interrogator like Kylo Ren. But if she practiced with them regularly, she might be able to teach them how to put up mental blocks, even without the Force.

“I’ll talk to the generals and Leia about it,” said Rey after a moment. “I’m sure Poe would want anybody we train to go in as prepared as they can.”

They turned into the tunnel that sloped downward, leading them to the lowest level of the mine. Rey shivered slightly at the chill in the air. Living on a desert planet for most of her life had not prepared her well for colder environments.

The tunnel branched in two directions – the right-hand path led to the holding cells for the brig, while the left-hand path ended after about twenty feet. As they turned down the corridor, Rey saw Finn leaning against the wall by the closed door of the interrogation room, his arms crossed. His head whipped around as they came into view, and all of Rey’s anxieties flew out the window at seeing the beaming grin spread across his face. She couldn’t help but grin back.

“So, it’s true? We actually did it?” she asked.

Finn nodded vigorously.

“We kriffing _did it_ , Rey,” he said. “We _kriffing_ did it!”

Rey jabbed towards the door with her thumb. “Is it just the one?”

Finn sighed, deflating somewhat. “Yes, but honestly, that’s probably a good thing this early on. I don’t think we could’ve handled bringing back more than one.” He rubbed at a spot on his abdomen absentmindedly as he spoke. “She put up a real good fight before she realized who I was.”

“We could always use more good fighters,” said Connix.

“Who’s in there now?” Rey asked.

“Major Ematt and Commander Bara,” Finn replied. “They’ve been in there for the last thirty minutes. They wanted me here in case she gets skittish.”

Rey crossed her arms. “Let’s hope she doesn’t. I don’t want her stressed out more than she has to be.”

Finn nodded in agreement. “She’s had a rough go of it, but she seems pretty resilient.”

“Tell us about her,” said Connix. Finn put his hands in his jacket pockets and leaned against the wall.

“Her name’s TZ-1719. She mostly worked maintenance for the transports on Worolos, so she knows her way around a ship, but she _is_ a stormtrooper.”

“That was the first base we ever hit,” said Rey, astonished. “It took her that long to escape?”

“Unfortunately, yeah,” Finn sighed, then he began to tell them all that TZ-1719 had related to him about the tightening of rules and regulations after Starkiller, and how any mistake was met with even harsher punishment. Rey’s heart thumped painfully in her chest as she listened to Finn, not wanting to think of the man who was the head of an organization that would treat its soldiers so cruelly.

The door suddenly opened, and all of the worry she’d pushed aside to revel in Finn’s excitement suddenly came rushing back.

Major Ematt and Commander Bara – a tall, dark-haired woman and head of Resistance intelligence – stepped out of the room and shut the door before Rey could get a look behind them. Bara’s eyes were fixed on her datapad as she tapped away at the screen.

“Master Rey,” Ematt greeted with a tilt of his head.

Rey resisted the urge to say that she barely qualified as a master, but she kept her mouth shut.

“We just finished questioning her, so she’s ready for you,” he continued.

Rey nodded. “Is there anything I should know before I go in?”

Commander Bara’s eyes raised to meet hers. “There are some things she told us that I will need to corroborate with the intel we have, but I think she’s telling the truth.”

“So do I,” said Ematt. “But we’ll wait for the final verdict from you.”

Rey nodded again, trying to wrangle her anxiety into the calm and controlled demeanor she so often struggled to project. She had a job to do.

Placing a hand against the door, she looked over at Finn and Connix. Her oldest and dearest friend gave her an encouraging nod while Connix gave her a cheery thumbs up, which helped ease her fears a little.

Taking a deep breath and squaring her shoulders, she opened the door and stepped into the room.

A single light strip in the center of the ceiling illuminated the rough-hewn stone walls of the room and shone down on the table and two chairs in the center of it. TZ-1719 sat in the chair opposite to Rey, wrapped in a filthy-looking poncho with her hands cuffed on the table. The other woman’s large brown eyes met Rey’s, and even if she wasn’t strong with the Force, Rey would’ve been able to sense her stress and exhaustion just by looking at her.

“Hello,” Rey said, closing the door behind her.

“Hello,” TZ-1719 replied tentatively. “Are you here to question me some more?”

“Not exactly.” Rey went over and leaned over the table, extending her hand and smiling. “My name’s -”

“Rey. I know. Finn told me I would be talking to you eventually.” She looked down at Rey’s hand, then slowly reached over and shook it with strong, calloused fingers. Rey was surprised by how _young_ she was. She seemed about Rey’s age, or maybe a little younger even.

“And you’re TZ-1719,” said Rey, retracting her hand. “Or do you go by any other name?”

The ex-stormtrooper shook her head. “Just the numbers they gave me.”

“Right.”

As she took a seat across from TZ-1719 and brushed lightly enough against the other young woman’s mind that she wouldn’t feel it, Rey felt a pang of sympathy. The irony that _she_ was now the interrogator in this situation was not lost on her.

“I don’t know exactly what they’ve told you about me,” Rey began, trying to choose her words carefully. “But, basically, I’m here to make sure you’re telling us the truth.”

TZ-1719 nodded slowly. “Yeah, Finn did mention something about that.” She frowned. “How are you going to do that? I don’t see any interrogator droids.”

“That’s not how we do things in the Resistance.” Rey hesitated, then asked, “Do you know what the Force is?”

TZ-1719 leaned back in her chair, bringing her cuffed wrists down onto her lap.

“Maybe,” she said. “I know the Supreme Leader can move things with his mind and has a lightsaber like the Jedi supposedly had. And all the stormtrooper companies were told the Resistance had a Jedi working with them.” Her eyes narrowed at Rey. “Is that you? Are you the Jedi?”

“Not exactly,” Rey repeated, shrugging.

“But you can use the Force, or whatever it’s called?”

“Yes.”

TZ-1719 leaned forward. “Will you show me?”

Rey blinked, not expecting that request. “Erm, alright.” She stood and stepped away from the table, deciding a good demonstration would be the simplest: making things float.

She put out a hand and drew on the Force, feeling it flow through and around her as she concentrated on the table and two chairs, one of which was occupied by TZ-1719. Slowly, they began to rise, and TZ-1719 let out a cry as she flailed, trying to stay balanced on the now floating chair.

“Okay, okay, okay! You can put me down now! Please!” she exclaimed. Rey let the table and chairs sink back to the ground. TZ-1719’s eyes were wide with awe as she stared at her.

“You are _definitely_ the Jedi,” she gasped out.

“The one and only,” said Rey under her breath as she sat back down in her chair. She clasped her hands in front of her. “I’m going to be honest with you, because I think that’s the easiest way we’re going to get through this,” she said, looking TZ-1719 directly in the eye. “With your permission, I’m going to use the Force to look into your mind to see if what you’ve told us is the truth.”

TZ-1719’s eyes widened even more. “You can do that?”

“Yes. But _only_ with your permission first,” Rey said firmly. “I’m not going to root around in your mind if you don’t want me there.”

The other woman looked away, her brow furrowing. “And what if I say no?” she asked after a moment of thought.

Rey sighed. “I’m not sure, but you can bet it won’t make things any more comfortable for you here.”

TZ-1719 bit the inside of her cheek as she contemplated her options. Rey only had to wait for a few seconds before the ex-stormtrooper sighed and said, “Okay. Go ahead and do it.”

Rey’s hands tightened their grasp on each other for second before they let go. Thinking back on her practice sessions with Finn, she propped up her right elbow on the table and extended a hand toward TZ-1719’s face. The other woman looked at it warily.

“It’s okay, just relax,” Rey said, hoping she sounded soothing and not nervous at all. “You can close your eyes if you want. It’ll feel uncomfortable for a second, but I promise you I’ll back off if it becomes too much.”

TZ-1719 looked at her with nervous eyes. “Promise?”

“Yes.” Rey nodded. “This shouldn’t take long.”

As TZ-1719 closed her eyes, Rey once again drew on the Force. She could now clearly sense the other woman’s nervousness, but also a deep undercurrent of relief at finally being away from the First Order. Rey watched TZ-1719’s face as she brushed against her mind more forcefully this time. The other woman flinched slightly but said nothing.

Rey took another deep breath and closed her eyes, becoming the calm center amidst the roiling emotions and distorted images she immersed herself in as she delved deeper into TZ-1719’s mind.

She felt the pang of TZ-1719’s hunger as she ate the last of her rations she’d escaped with, wondering how she was going to cope until someone from the Resistance showed up to find her and take her with them.

She smelled the sharp odor of burning metal and electrical fires as TZ-1719 ran from the explosion she’d set off in her commander’s quarters, her heart pounding in her ears, knowing there was no turning back now.

She felt the disbelief, shock, and then barely contained grief as TZ-1719 watched one of her only true friends in the First Order be brought out in front of the squad and shot point blank in the head by their commanding officer, who looked on with only cold disgust at the mess left behind.

As she combed through the memories, Rey tried to be as gentle as possible. She’d never gone into someone’s mind this deep before, not even Finn’s, and if it was disorienting for her, she could only imagine how disorienting it was for TZ-1719.

When she felt she’d seen enough, Rey pulled back, out of TZ-1719’s mind completely. As she refocused her senses in the real world, she opened her eyes to find TZ-1719 staring at her. The other woman’s eyes were glassy with unshed tears.

Rey swallowed, her mouth suddenly dry. “I’m so sorry about your friend.”

TZ-1719 looked down at her lap and rubbed at her nose, sniffling.

“She didn’t deserve that,” she said quietly.

“No, she didn’t.”

The two young women sat in silence for a few moments, before Rey said, “I don’t think there’s any doubt now that you told us the truth.”

TZ-1719 sighed deeply. “Thank you, Rey.”

“I’m just doing my part,” Rey said as she stood from the table. “I’ll tell Resistance High Command you’re not a spy, and that we can trust you.” She turned towards the door and placed a hand on the cold metal, then paused. Looking back at TZ-1719, she said, “And I promise, anything I saw will stay secret between us.”

TZ-1719 gave her a small, grateful smile. “Thank you. Again.”

Rey ducked her head and opened the door, stepping out into the hallway where Finn and Connix still stood waiting. She shut the door, but before she could say anything and before Finn could even open his mouth, the short figure of General Organa rounded the corner, followed closely by Rose.

“Leia! What are you doing here?” Rey asked, surprised.

“I didn’t want to miss all the fun of our first defector interrogation,” Leia replied as she came up to their little group. “And Commander Tico here thinks she might be a good recruit for the Engineering Corps.”

“If she’s any good with a wrench, we’ll take her on,” said Rose.

“It seems like she is, from what Finn’s been telling me,” Connix told her.

Finn turned to Rey, his expression hopeful, and asked, “So, how did it go? Is she for real? Can we trust her?”

Rey looked from Finn to Leia, who was watching her intently.

“Yes,” Rey said simply, and Leia’s eyes crinkled at the corners as she smiled. Finn’s shoulders sagged with relief.

“Well, let’s not waste any time, then,” Leia said as she strode past Rey to the door.

TZ-1719 looked up from the table, her eyes widening and her mouth dropping open as Leia entered the room. Her cane tapped lightly against the stone floor as Rey and Finn followed her in. Rose and Connix stayed in the hallway, talking quietly.

“It seems like you know who I am already,” said Leia. “Or is your jaw always on the floor like that?”

TZ-1719 teeth made an audible clicking sound as she snapped her mouth shut.

“Um – I – no, Ma’am. General?” she spluttered as she stood from her chair. “I just wasn’t expecting to meet you so quickly.”

Like everyone else in the room, TZ-1719 stood at least six inches taller than Leia, but her military training made her automatically defer to the more commanding presence in the room. And Leia _always_ commanded a room.

Leia eyes traced over the young woman in front of her, from her close-cropped dark hair to her raggedy poncho to the binding cuffs that seemed to dwarf her clenched hands.

“Finn, why don’t you let her out of those? She doesn’t need them.”

As Finn went over to remove the cuffs from TZ-1719’s wrists, Leia smiled.

“Welcome to the Resistance.”


End file.
